Jimmy Harris
Jimmy belongs to: Royal British Legion Seaman's Mess
Jimmy was born in Dulwich in London. Jimmy served in both the Royal Navy and merchant navy. He was on the Ashanti when it ran aground at Whitburn in 1940.
Jimmy was interviewed by Kylea Little on 22 November 2005. The interview took place at South Shields Royal British Legion and lasted 43 minutes and 54 seconds.
Buckingham Palace
"I got a weekend leave, I got married that weekend and I never went back"
I got a weekend leave, I got married that weekend and I never went back.
Interviewer: You never went back?
I did, after a fortnight. So when I went back I got arrested, and put into cells and there was Hell on. And the commander of the depot was also, he knew me, the commander of the depot was the skipper of the Bedouin, Tim McCoy. Well, when I was wounded he knew about it and he was wounded at the same time and he was in hospital, and he had come out of hospital and they had put him as commander of the depot because he wasn’t fit to go to sea.
Well, somebody called Admiral Harrison who was in charge of the Sea Cadets, and I was an ex-Sea Cadet, they had been looking for me because they wanted to present me with a gold watch at this church where the Sea Cadets were, you know, and also at the same time, I had to go to Buckingham Palace on the following Wednesday to get the DSM and he didn’t know what the Hell to do about it because I was under close arrest- open arrest, I was allowed to walk around, I was out of cells.
And he said a report had come back from South Shields- I had told him I was snowed up and he said, “according to them there’s no snow there at all!” I said, “oh, I didn’t live in South Shields, I was outside in the countryside, further up,” you know, I told them a whole load of rubbish.
So he said, “well, I don’t know, look,” and he tore everything up, tore the chart sheet up and he threw it in the fire and he said, “right, now. Get yourself away- I’m going to fix it up for you to have five days leave so you’ll be able to go this church and attend this service and get whatever it is they are going to give you,” and he said, “you’ll be able to go to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.” And he said, “I want you back here on Friday…if you’re not here…” you know. So I did just that. That's another little escapade I got out off.
Jimmy has 13 memories in the memorynet:
Jimmy's memories with a Danger theme:
Jimmy's other memories:
Wartime experiences in the Royal Navy- The uniform in the Royal Navy
- Water rations in the Royal Navy
- The canteen at Scapa Flow
- Sea sickness
- Meeting his wife on Ocean Road, South Shields
- Buckingham Palace
- Life in the merchant navy after the Royal Navy
Distinguished Service Medal- Gold watch
- UK Armed Forces Veteran Lapel Badge
This memory has these themes:
Adventure | Relationships | Work
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