P/O John 'Happy' Day - PMX634761 Radar Mechanician Ostend

[Jaime]

My Grandfather, John Henry Thomas Day, who is still alive, was a member of Coastal Forces in the run up to VE Day. I am looking for any evidence I can find that places him in North West Europe from 7th September 1944 to 19th May 1945 because the MOD Medals Office refused him his France & Germany Star on the basis that his records indicate he was never there - despite the photographs of him in Ostend at the foot of this post! His Certificate of Service simply indicates two successive postings to 'Midge' (Great Yarmouth) but does not indicate that during this time he was sent to CFMU in Ostend.

He was at Ostend on 15th February 1945 when the refuelling disaster occurred and was in a small building on the dockside having a tea break with a colleague when it was blown down around them. Luckily they both survived and were eventually evacuated after spending a terrifying few hours amongst the exploding boats and refuelling trucks.

I'll see if he can contribute a more detailed account of that day's terrible events soon.

He was also sometimes known as 'Mac' due to his job as a radar mechanician on the MTB flotillas there but I imagine that nickname was applied to everyone in that trade!

I have attached two photographs of him and a mate, taken in Ostend 1944/45 at the foot of this post.

My Grandfather is now 87 and in failing health so if I can get the information I need to obtain the recognition he is due for his wartime service in Coastal Forces it would be a great boost to him. We will be applying for a SAR this weekend to see if more detailed information is available on his postings than is available on his Certificate of Service.

In the meantime, here is a brief summary of my grandfather's service in WW2 (his time in NW Europe with Coastal Forces is highlighted in red) and there are the photos at the foot of this post:

In October 1942, my grandfather, John Henry Thomas Day was conscripted into the Royal Navy and told to report to the former Butlins Holiday Camp in Skegness for basic training. After about six weeks square bashing there, he was sent to a technical college in north London to be trained as a radar mechanician. He was at the college for six months, then did another four months practical training on the Isle of Man and in Petersfield, Hants, before qualifying as a radar mechanician. Upon qualifying, he was posted to Malta.

To get to Malta, he had to travel to Londonderry and board a destroyer called HMS Winchelsea which was escorting a convoy to the island. After a few days in the Atlantic, the convoy assembled and made for Gibraltar. It seems that the Germans were waiting for them in the Bay of Biscay, however, and after being subjected to regular air attacks for several days, Winchelsea was hit and badly damaged. After emergency repairs, she could only make 4 knots and the convoy had to leave her to make her own way back to the UK. About 300 miles west of Lands End, she met an escort ship which covered her while she limped towards Plymouth. After arrival back in the UK, John went back to Portsmouth and was posted to the coastal forces where he was required to service the radars on the motor torpedo boats which were operating in the English Channel and North Sea.

After spells in Newhaven, Dover, Gosport and Great Yarmouth, he was sent to Ostend in Belgium as part of something called the CFMU 1 or the Coastal Forces Mobile Unit Number 1. By now, the torpedo boats were operating up and down the Belgian and Dutch coasts and when they returned to Ostend, John would service all the radar equipment. He was working in the harbour there on 14th February 1945 when some of the torpedo boats caught fire due to a cable falling into the water and igniting some high octane fuel on the surface. Before long, the whole dock was in flames with ammunition from the boats exploding and vehicles and vessels being hurled into the air. John and his friends were eventually evacuated at the seaward end of the mole toward evening after enduring a terrifying few hours.

When VE Day arrived, John had moved a little way up the coast and was working on the flotilla's mother ship near Walcheren Island. After VE Day, he spent a bit of time trying to catch up with his flotilla, which was constantly on the move, and travelled by sea to Sheerness in Kent and then by train to Grangemouth in Scotland. From Grangemouth he hitched a ride on the cruiser HMS Diadem and finally caught up with his own flotilla in Copenhagen. After Copenhagen, they went to Flensburg where they enjoyed the summer months yachting on the Baltic. When the flotilla went back to sea through the Kiel Canal, John's maintenance unit was sent back to Ostend on a German train which was moving so slowly that the passengers were able to disembark and pick fruit from trees growing by the side of the track.

John was then posted back to the UK and, after spending some time at Fareham in Hants and Troon in Scotland, he was demobbed at Portsmouth in May 1946.

My grandfather was keen to get back to civilian life and rarely spoke about his war experiences. He'd never bothered to send away for his medals but decided to do so about four years ago at my grandmother's instigation. He was very suprised when all he received was the War Medal which was given for service in the UK. After some correspondence and phone calls with the MOD Medal Office in Innsworth, Gloucestershire, he was advised to ask the navy for his full service record. Their lordships at the Admiralty duly sent him an application form and John, by now pretty well exasperated, gave up. He's not really bothered about the medals, and never was, or he'd have sent away for them years ago. However, he is a bit miffed that his active service with the Royal Navy in two theatres has not been recognized.

The photographs below place John (on the left in the second photo) in Ostend during the war - the Ostend town crest is visible on the lamp post. The MOD Medals Office have said he was never there!

[Admin]

Hello Jaime

Thank you for your interesting contribution to the forum offering an insight into the work of the Coastal Forces base personnel, which is a subject seldom covered. Just out of interest, in case you were not aware, Ken Forrester, who was present at the Ostend disaster, writes about it in chapter three of his autobiography If I Only Had Known which is published on the web site, while this publication from the Canadian government entitled Liberation: The Canadians in Europe and available to download free in pdf format, also gives an account of the disaster involving the Canadian MTBs present in Ostend at the time, beginning at page 120.

[Jaime]

It is my sad duty to post that Petty Officer John Day passed away at home in Caerphilly on March 28th 2012 after a long illness at the age of 88. After surviving the near sinking of escort destroyer HMS Winchelsea in the Bay of Biscay on September 11th 1943 on his way to join Coastal Forces in Malta as part of convoy KMS.026G, he was posted to Coastal Forces at bases on the South Coast and, from late 1944, with CFMU1 at Ostend and Walcheren Island.

A devoted family man, he rarely spoke about his wartime experiences until his last few years, when he recalled the days of attacks by Junkers 88 dive bombers on HMS Winchelsea, experiencing the disaster at Ostend, the colourful Canadians with their outrageous moustaches and games of catch with grenades, hazardous cross-country journeys ferrying equipment between flotillas, being rescued from a sinking 'Terrapin' amphibious vehicle, the devastation of Hamburg, the joys of the Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen and happy post-war days at Flowerdown, where he was Rum Bosun!

As a young man John had been an active sportsman, enjoying boxing, rugby, cricket and football and in his retirement, John loved nothing more than sharing in the sporting successes of his great grandchildren.

He was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather and he will be greatly missed by all his family.

NB:
After years of being refused his campaign medals by the MOD, John finally received and was able to read a letter from the Medal Office the week before he died acknowledging that he was indeed entitled to The France & Germany Star. Although he was satisfied by the acknowledgement of this part of his service, he never got to see the medal, which arrived a week after he passed away.

[Stephen Day]

I'm very happy to see this tribute here to my late father, John Day. Dad belonged to the first generation of mechanicians trained in the field of radar or RDF as it was then known. After basic training at HMS Royal Arthur in Skegness, he was chosen for the mechanicians course which involved six months study at a technical college in London and four months practical repair and installation work on the Isle of Man and at the Signal School in Petersfield, Hants. There were practical and theoretical exams every month and anyone who failed was sent back to Skegness. At the end of the course, only 40% of the original entrants were left. Though he rarely spoke about the war, Dad was very proud of his achievement in getting through a demanding technical course that would have taken 3 to 4 years to complete in peacetime. As well as installing and repairing radar sets on all the British coastal craft, Dad also worked on the American PT boats which he said were very spacious and comfortable compared to the British craft whose free space was mostly taken up with weapons and equipment. Dad was one of a select band who worked tirelessly to keep the coastal forces boats seaworthy and we're all very proud of him. Rest in peace, Dad.

[Admin]

Thank you for informing us of the death of your late father John Day. On behalf of the London Branch of Coastal Forces Veterans, the web team wish to extend our condolences to you and all the family at this sad time. Your father’s work with early ship-based radar enabled the boats of Coastal Forces to ‘see’ at night and keep themselves safe from surprise attack, and it is heartening to learn that he was known to family and friends as ‘Happy’ and that he lived such a rewarding life.