War hero’s 100th birthday
A VETERAN of a key Second World War sea battle had his 100th birthday marked with a special Navy ceremony.
Capt Laurence Taylor was on HMS Savage which helped sink the German battleship Scharnhorst at the Battle of the North Cape in December 1943.
His destroyer fired eight torpedoes, scoring at least three hits and stopping the Scharnhorst’s attacks on Arctic convoys taking vital supplies to Russia.
Capt Taylor was delighted by the surprise visit from Capt David Preece of Devonport base and Plymouth branch members of the Royal Naval Association at the care home where he lives in the Devon city.
He reeled off tales from his distinguished service career which began in 1940 at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.
Capt Preece said: “I was absolutely delighted to be able to wish Capt Taylor happy birthday on such a landmark day. It was also a real privilege to have an insight into his very clear and fond memories of an amazing career.
“I hope that our presence was a reminder to him and his family that they are still a part of the naval family no matter how long since retiring.”
Des McCarthy, Plymouth RNA chairman, said: “Plymouth members of the Royal Naval Association were honoured to attend the 100th birthday celebration... and award him with Life Membership to mark the high degree of respect and esteem we hold for our wartime warriors and their generation.”
Capt Taylor served on several ships during the war and was injured when HMS Sussex was bombed in Glasgow.
Peacetime roles took him to Haifa, Hong Kong – where his elder daughter was born, Moscow as naval attache and Canberra before he returned to the UK. He was made Queen’s Harbour Master at Chatham, Kent, and was later director of marine services, retiring in 1982. That year he was also made CBE.
He married Margaret in 1951 and they had three children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. They lived in Winkleigh, Devon, from 1984 and she passed away in 2015.