Queen Elisabeth, 2. 26th Birthday - Korea 1952 -April- 21st..

CHAPTER 32
Korea
     In 1952, the Korean War was in full swing. I was drafted to HMS Ceylon, an 8,000-ton cruiser with nine 6-inch and eight 4-inch guns, etc. Before I left, my beautiful Mary and I had a very romantic day in London where I promised to love her forever and write often. Mary gave me a letter from Alice, Mary’s sister, to deliver by hand to William, her boyfriend stationed in Hong Kong..               On 11 March 1952, I left Portsmouth and sailed to Hong Kong on the troop ship Empire Fowey, an ex-German liner. My journey to Hong Kong was pleasant. The many activities on board kept me free from boredom. By the time the ship had arrived in Hong Kong, I had written several letters to Mary, who I missed terribly. I hand delivered the letter to Mary’s sister’s fiancée and received my first letter from Mary. It was the first of many letters that kept me in touch and satisfied me that our romance was progressing favourably. Mary is a clean-living, kindly person, more likely to blame herself for things and not the other person. She is sometimes too kind for her own good. I often get complimentary remarks about her from female friends. A few years ago, one lady who we know well pointed to Mary and told her son that she was the type of wife he should choose. That lady was absolutely right. My Mary was and still is beautiful in mind, body, and soul. Yes, it’s diplomacy at its best when I gaze upon Mary laughing and smiling with  her three ex-daughters-in-law, who tell me in secret that they still love her..
      Two weeks later, after I joined HMS Ceylon and went up to Korea, I was put in charge of a twin four-inch gun mounting ‘turret.’ Apart from a few bombardments, etc. and a visit to Sasebo, Japan, it was uneventful, except for one ridiculous situation that only the Royal Navy could have conceived. At twelve noon on 21 April 1952 flags were hoisted from fore to aft in dress overall. A signal from the masthead indicated “With the compliments of Her Majesty the Queen, on her twenty-sixth birthday.” Eight bells were rung, and a six-inch gun turret fired a twenty-one-gun salute of 50 KILO, or 1 CWT, high explosive shells into a North Korean Port that had some minor military targets. In the afternoon, an ‘informal’ bombardment was carried out. The other ‘highlight’ was that the six hundred plus crew all had dysentery. We were at the mercy of the enemy, if only they had known it.      .                  Sasebo Japan, used by the United Nations as a naval base, was not the best place to go ashore, as it was dank, and smoky. The American USO club was okay. What I did find interesting was the open-air theatrical performances. For this, you needed an English version of the story to guide you through the show. For visiting naval ships, the availability of orgasmic interaction was abundant; however, the warnings given upon arrival that Carnal Catarrh was rife were usually ignored by the foolhardy
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 Excerpt from memoirs. 2003.
 Vest Daily Gaggle.

   Sorry.  No Words this week.. Still suffering a little.