The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Veteran marks warship anniversary by revealing perils of Arctic convoys
Stories and documents shared to mark 80 years since vessel was launched
Stories and rare documents revealing life serving aboard HMS Belfast are being shared to mark the 80th anniversary of the historic warship’s launch.
The oldest surviving Second World War veteran of HMS Belfast, John Harrison, has described the dangers of serving at sea, facing German magnetic mines and Arctic conditions.
The first “certificate for wounds and hurts” issued on the warship has been revealed by the Imperial War Museums, which owns and runs the vessel as a museum moored near Tower Bridge on the Thames in London.
The document, which records the “accidental traumatic amputation” of Boy John Campbell’s “first two phalanges” – finger bones – while carrying out a gun-drill on HMS Belfast’s four-inch guns, is dated August 18, 1939, the same month the warship was commissioned into the Royal Navy.
The insights are being shared ahead of the 80th anniversary weekend on March 17-18, when visitors will have a chance to meet surviving veterans from HMS Belfast, explore the ship and take part in free nautical-themed activities.
They will even be able to enjoy a slice of nine-tiered cake, inspired by the ship and made by Sophie Faldo, the 2017 winner of the Great British Bake Off and a serving officer in the army.
HMS Belfast was launched in 1938, and was involved in the Arctic convoys between the Allies and the Soviet Union, played a leading role in D-Day, helped liberate internment camps in the Far East in 1945, and was in the Korean War.
By 1971, the ship was on the verge of being scrapped, but the Belfast Trust stepped in to save it, docking it in London and opening it to the public. It was taken over by the IWM in 1978.
Mr Harrison, who served as an ordinance artificer on HMS Belfast in the Second World War, described the dangers in the Arctic, including narrowly avoiding being swept overboard.
“I came to these big waves coming over, and I dashed to my turret, grabbed the turret door,” the 104-year-old said.
“Another one came over, my legs went up with the water, and my hand was actually frozen on to the turret handle, otherwise I’d have gone over the side with it.”