caimbrige i always think of as a holiday camp / beutiful setting close to beach and amenities/ i decided to put my name forward for gymnastic team along with about 80 others / extra two weeks leave might have been the enticement / only 10 ratings were reqd and i/d never done gymnastics before / but i gave it my best and surprised myself i was picked/ o happy days

my first walk on the gangplank of the cassandra a voice boomed out which i recognised with fear / he/d been the chief of the parade ground at ralaigh and he/ d hated my guts / he/d put it less politely/ now he was the buffer of the cass/ i avoided him as much as poss/ but my fault was being 16 i could never get back to the ship in the time allocated to a juinor seaman/ so his mate the coxswain ensured i had plenty of extra duties / no wonder the ship was always gleaming

could/nt believe my luck/ about 8mths down the line and i end up getting a hurt certificate/ while peeling potatoes on her majestys ship cassandra the rating accidently cut his little finger r/h/ i ended up having a tendon operation in malta / but they/d left it to long and it was unsuccessful/ they/ d thought on board ship i was swinging the hook so by the time they believed i actually had a problem they/d left it to late

another 7 months down the line and half my little finger was removed in portsmouth/ i/d always enjoyed being bosun/s mate and the pipe blowing proved a onbit awkward for awhile/ but i mastered it/ on my last stint to the far east i was suffering complications with the half i had left and it was decided i had it all removed/ due to the fact i had the pack of cards tattood on this hand i can always say i left my heart in singapore

after the op i was billeted in terror i don/t know if anyone can remember our heavyweight boxing champion in those days / he was a lad called john field / i ended up in the same mess as him and my regret was i never saw him fight / even though i/d watched the boxing at pompi a number of times he was always somewhere else/ he seemed a pleasent bloke but then with his reputation who/d want to argue with him