North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Close calls: Navy vet, 99, shares stories
Born on February 2, 1918, war veteran Norman Batterham has seen ‘‘thousands of things’’ in his 99 years.
Born in Portsmouth, England he joined Britain’s Royal Navy in 1936 and saw action in World War II.
‘‘I wanted to be a stoker [someone who tends the fires that run a steam engine] like my old man but the navy says I could be a cook. I had no idea how to cook.’’
He says feeding everyone was impossible and cups regularly went overboard, so old tins were used as cups.
‘‘We could only buy enough for three days because, after three days, everything went off,’’ he says.
‘‘I started using tins of meat and vegetables. We had nothing else. We were bloody starving.’’
Batterham was on the HMS Vernon when he heard war declared on the radio and thought ‘‘bugger me’’.
The veteran, who now lives in Forrest Hill, says he once took on the German air force singlehandedly.
‘‘I was in the galley ... and I heard an explosion. I walked out and the first thing I saw was a huge four-engine Focke Wulf condor … I barely had time to reach over and whip the cover off a gun, cock it and fire the whole magazine,’’ he says.
‘‘The aircraft turned and went past us and it had a big swastika on it.’’
Batterham thought, when he turned around he’d be met with men rushing out to help and the bells would ring, but nothing happened.
‘‘I told everyone what had happened. Whether they believed me, I don’t know.’’
Batterham spent his first few years in the navy on the HMS Bluebell, which was later sunk by a torpedo in 1945, leaving only one survivor.
‘‘Had I not left it, I wouldn’t be here now.’’
Batterham left the Royal Navy in 1948 and joined the Royal New Zealand Navy in the same year, where he served as a cook for three years.
When he left in 1951, he worked as a ‘‘wharfie’’ loading and unloading ships in the port.
He worked there for 28 years before retiring in 1980 and lived on the North Shore for all but three of those years. He says it’s hard to remember any highlights from his life.
‘‘There are thousands of things. When I think about what happened to me and my ships. It would take all day to try and remember it all.’’
Batterham’s collection of medals commemorates his service in Russia, Italy, the Atlantic and the Arctic, among others.
He celebrated his 99th year at the East Coast Bays RSA which he frequents.
‘‘I told everyone what had happened. Whether they believed me, I don't know.’’
Norman Batterham