Chief Stoker Harold J Siddall D/KX91819 1916-1997

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jbryce1437
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Chief Stoker Harold J Siddall D/KX91819 1916-1997

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

I posted this interesting Obituary on the old Forum after being contacted by his daughter Barbara.

Harold J Siddall was born at Plymouth in November 1916. He joined the Royal Navy on 9th August 1937 as a Stoker 2nd Class and undertook his recruit training at HMS Drake.
His first draft was to HMS Revenge, at that time a training battleship, which he joined in 1938. In the January 1939, most of the crew of Revenge was changed over to HMS Repulse. This evolution was carried out by rail, as Revenge was in Devonport and Repulse was in dry dock at Portsmouth.
An air of excitement became apparent in Repulse, when it was learned that it would become the Royal Yacht, for a visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Canada in the summer of 1939.
The situation in Europe resulted in the King and Queen travelling to Canada in an ocean liner, with Repulse escorting her part of the way. Preparations for war were made and Repulse spent time exercising and returned to Devonport for summer leave.
On completion of summer leave Repulse headed for Scapa Flow, where the crew heard the broadcast by Prime Minister Chamberlain on 3rd September 1939, that the country was at war with Germany.
By now a Stoker 1st Class with an Auxiliary Watchkeeping Certificate. During the Norwegian campaign, volunteers with auxiliary watchkeeping certificates were asked for to serve on the destroyers Acasta and Ardent. Although he volunteered, he was not one of the chosen ones. In the ensuing evacuation, both Acasta and Ardent, along with the aircraft carrier Glorious, were sunk. There were no survivors from the destroyers.
In June 1940, he responded to a request for volunteers to serve in Coastal Forces and was successful. He was drafted to the Motor Launch ML1030, which was being built at a boat yard at Clynder on the River Clyde. On completion and trials, in December 1940, ML1030 was ordered to sail for Cardiff and, on arrival, they were told that the boat was being shipped out to the Mediterranean Sea and had to be de-stored and placed in a state of preservation for the passage aboard a cargo ship.
The crew, meanwhile, were sent on leave and issued with tropical kit, then told to report to Liverpool, for passage on the troopship HMS Glenearn. Stops were made at Freetown, Sierra Leone and Cape Town.
The crew of ML1030 were landed at Port Teufic, at the southern end of the Suez Canal, while Glenearn continued through the canal.
After finding that no one knew anything about, or expected ML1030, the crew jumped on an overnight train to Port Suez and entered the shore base HMS Canopus until the arrival of the boat, at the end of March
Initially, ML1030 patrolled off Alexandria harbour but, with the escalation of the war in Greece, by the end of April 1941 she, together with ML1011 and ML1032, were sent to Crete and headed for Suda Bay.
When German paratroopers were landed on Crete, the launches were ordered to make for Alexandria. On the evening of 27th May 1941, ML1030 left Crete. The following day she was attacked by German bomber aircraft and after putting up a valiant fight, was severely damaged and had to be abandoned. The crew headed towards Crete in a small dinghy and a raft, with three crew members swimming in the water.
The next day, they reached landfall at Crete and they followed a small stream inland and came across a camp of New Zealand soldiers. The soldiers told the crew that evacuations were taking place at night, from a small village named Sphakia and a Cretan guide took them to the evacuation point. Evacuation of the crew was planned for that night but, due to a break down in communications, the opportunity was missed.
The following day, Harold Siddall was made a prisoner of war. In time he was taken across to the Greek mainland, then transferred by rail to Stalag VIIA in Germany, where he spent the rest of the war as a prisoner.
He was released by the allies in April 1945 and was repatriated to England and back into the Royal Navy.
He completed his time for pension, serving on HMS Implacable, amongst others post-war and left the Royal Navy in 1959 as a Chief Petty Officer Stoker. In 1997 it was learned that he had cancer. It was a form of asbestosis, presumably contracted during those years in the engine rooms, where asbestos was used freely, without any precautions being taken.
He died in the Autumn of 1997.
Before his death, Harold J Siddall wrote an account of his early career in the Royal Navy, including his time as a Prisoner Of War. You can read the full account in the attached PDF.

Many thanks to his daughter Barbara for bringing his story to my attention and for permission to include his obituary here.

Jim

Siddall Memoirs.pdf
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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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ivorthediver
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Re: Chief Stoker Harold J Siddall D/KX91819 1916-1997

Unread post by ivorthediver »

I have read this a week ago Jim , and very interesting it was to , thanks for sharing it with us all
"What Ever Floats your Boat"
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