The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
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A model of the battleship HMS Pheasant, which was present at the surrender of Japan in 1945 , is to be donated to a naval museum by the daughter of the Peterborough war veteran who made it.
The model is around 1m (3.2ft) long and is accompanied by a large handmade wooden case.
It belongs to Julie Gibbs and has been stored in the garage of her Thorpe Meadows home for the last 10 years, following the death of her father in 2010.
The replica was created between 1999 and 2003, with painstaking attention to detail, by her father Bernard Dowding, who served on the vessel between 1942 and 1947.
Following his release from the Navy in 1947, he joined the family carpentry business and acquired the skills to make the model.
Julie said: “Knowing dad, it would have been made to the exact specifications.
“He made it with love and had such an attention to detail.”
The 75th anniversary of VJ-Day (Victory over Japan) is celebrated on August 15, the date Japan’s surrender in the Second World War was announced by Emperor Hirohito.
Julie chose this year to donate the model to the Royal Naval Association. The association is looking at two possible sites in East Anglia in which the model can be placed to ensure that it receives the most public attention.
Bernard Henry Dowding, known as “Dingie,” likely because of his short stature, was 17 when he joined the Royal Navy as a Bosun’s Mate in 1943.
This meant he was responsible for all kinds of training and supervising duties relating to the ship’s maintenance.
The ship itself was a Black Swan-class sloop. They were specialised convoy defence vessels that were created to have a longer range than Britain’s other types of warships while remaining fast enough to outrun German U-Boats.
The ship, on which Julie’s father sailed, took part in several major campaigns including the 1943 Allied Invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky), which effectively brought the collapse of Mussolini’s fascist regime, the Battle of the Atlantic in the same year and it was also present at the official signing of Japan’s surrender in Tokyo Bay, bringing an end to the Second World War on September 2, 1945.
The ship also sailed around the Pacific Ocean but despite all his experiences, Julie says her father was reticent to talk about them until his later life.
Julie added: “He never ever talked about it when we were younger. Whether that was because we were girls or the memories were too raw, I don’t know. But later in life, he discovered the Navy News publication and that triggered his interest again.
“He loved his reunions and would take the model along.
“Together they were so lively, they would all regularly turn up in their wheelchairs and with their walking sticks, they were remarkable men.
“Dad would have loved this 75th anniversary.”
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