Originally Posted by
David J Haw
My late father was called Arthur Haw, and for the first year or so of WW2 he was a Gunner on the south coast shore batteries. At some stage he volunteered to become a Gunner on Merchant ships (an extra one shilling a day, I believe) that had been equipped with some modest weaponry, and he proceeded to sail to many ports mainly around Africa but also India and, I believe, the, then, Ceylon. Later he rejoined the land forces and saw action in Norway but quite where he was at the 'close of play' I do not know.
His fascinating times he relayed in the manner of a 'Cook's Tour' because as a country lad he was suddenly seeing ports and cities he would only have known in normal times by way of geography books. He mentioned from time to time numerous vessels but one that I will always recall was the Baron Elphinstone, which I believe he was on when it called in at Durban and Port Elizabeth.
I was browsing the web and put the name in and, hey presto, found myself here. I will endeavour to get more information about his travels from my older siblings and let you know of anything worthwhile in due course.
Many thanks for allowing me to register, I will enjoy reading many of the threads - I only wish he was here to enjoy this site, he would have loved it!
