24 July 1914 – 16 January 2018
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Bill’s Life Story by Bill
‘CORNCOB’ MS INNERTON & HMS DESPATCH IN ‘THE FLOATING’ MULBERRY HARBOUR by William Henry Price Army No 2054978
In 1928 I left school and spent most of my early working life in the music instrument industry.
In April 1938 I joined the Territorial Army, whose headquarters were in White City, Shepards Bush. Europe at that time, was uneasy as Germany was preparing for war.
In September 1938 the Territorial Army were mobilised in the event of war. A lot of the equipment that was from the 1914-18 war, a lot of this was obsolete, especially in my own unit. The September crisis as it was called, instigated the Prime Minister of the day, Neville Chamberlain, to visit Hitler in Germany. On his return from Germany he claimed Germany would not go to war with Britain, upon a signed agreement. This agreement claimed peace in our time.
During this period my unit, amongst other TA’s (sic) were called out in the event of war. Some people didn’t believe this as Britain wasn’t ready for war. Although it did give us a breathing space, as we knew war would come eventually. We were totally unprepared. As an example, having been called out in the event of war, I spent 3 nights sleeping on a London bus. No one knew where we would be stationed. Eventually we were given a site in North East London, where I spent a further seven days until the September crisis was over.
My employer was compelled to release us, for the crisis. I was the only volunteer for the Territorial Army in our company, they were completely unaware of my activity. I was given a hero’s welcome on my return. The directors had been in the 1914-18 war and were pleased to know one of their employees had volunteered.
In those days I was cycling 30 miles a day back and forth to work. When training two nights a week with the TA, I cycled an extra 5 miles a day from work. I was cycling a total of 190 miles a week.
The following year in 1939 (a week before the war started) I was called out again, as Britain knew there was going to be a war. For the first 18 months of the war I was stationed in the London area which included the Blitz. I was very fortunate in not having been posted to Dunkirk.
Around 1940 I was moved from West London to the civil service sports ground near Barnes Bridge, at the side of the river Thames. We were able to use the cricket equipment, and whilst playing I received a direct hit by the cricket ball on the leg. It was severe enough to warrant hospital treatment for about three weeks. My first contact with ‘friendly fire’! After the first three weeks I was sent to Hammersmith Hospital for x-rays, the medical officer decided to send me on seven days sick leave, to be followed by light duties, which meant me being sent to NE London.
I was the troop clerk and also in charge of stores equipment for six anti aircraft sites, such as petrol etc. Whilst there, the troop Sargent WH Walverton, (from the 1914-18 War), received a letter from the Mayor of Southgate, whereas a local family wanted to adopt a soldier. He turned around to me and said “Here Price, this is ideal for you”. Hence, I was able to visit them for a occasional meal, the family were a young couple with a new arrival. I had already been adopted by the local pub the Chaseside Tavern, and had been invited to join the family for Christmas lunch. This was my contribution to the early part of the war as ‘light duties’.
During the Blitz, crossing through London on my weekly 24 hour leave to Kent from Charring Cross I noticed people sleeping in the tube stations for safety, and many families living on the rail tube underground. These were being used as air raid shelters. Late 1941 I volunteered for a new unit being formed which where originally the Fourth Battalion Queens. They were being converted to a light anti-aircraft regiment (bofor guns 40mm). After training we were semi mobile, and hence we moved to most parts of the United Kingdom. Twice the regiment was mobilised for overseas service, which never eventuated. We fortunately stayed in the United Kingdom.
In December 1942, I was stationed at West Bay Bridge Port, a message came from headquarters for me only, to be transferred to a gun site on the outskirts of Yeoville. This particular location was the rear of a country pub. One had to walk down the side of the pub to get to the gun site. At the time I was a number 4. My job on the gun was to fire it. I was named ‘Trigger Joe’, as I was considered quick on the draw. During an air raid an enemy plane was shot down. Hence the local people donated a radio set to the site. It was here one morning, I think it was New Year’s eve, strolling along the side of the pub from the gun site, when a young WAAF came by with a bike and a large tea bucket. She approached me, to fill the bucket with beer from the pub. As it was awkward to take the beer back to the WAAF site at the bottom of the hill. I was asked to help with the beer transport, and as a result I found myself invited to join them at the head of their table at the Ballon (sic) Barrage site to drink the beer!.
Early 1944 the Colonel, informed me that the regiment had been allocated with a special job on the occasion of the invasion of Europe. In May 1944 my battery was moved to Oban Scotland, each person was issued with a hammock out in the bay with several merchant ships. I was allocated to one merchant ship called the Innerton. Little did we realise, it was to form the outer brake water called the Muberry (sic) Harbour. I gather this had been planned in the 1942 conference in Quebec by Churchill and Roosevelt.
Towards the end of May 1944 a very large convoy of merchant ships made their way through the Irish Channel and were eventually joined by the American and British war ships of approximately 60 ships. Each of the merchant ships did have a bofor gun attachment on board. At that time we didn’t know what was going to happen. As most people know D-Day was put off from the 5th to the 6th of June, and we continued to past the time until the 6th. The convoy of merchant ships moved off on the afternoon of June 6th known as D-Day. There were approximately 17 merchant ships that started to move into position, known as block ships. They were to form the outer brake water for Mulberry B, this being the British and Canadian sector. The effect was to calm the seas inside their protection. The ship I was on was number seven in line to be sunk. From then on, other parts of the harbour started to arrive including concrete caisson blocks etc. It only took a few days for the harbour to take effect and be completed. During this time landings were being made on the beach. My regiment’s duty was the defence of the Mulberry Harbour. I was transferred to a HMS Despatch which was the headquarter ship of the Mulberry Harbour, and I served there until the end of the Normandy campaign.
Adetailed (sic) account is referenced from John de S. Winsers book The D-Day Ships Neptune: the Greatest Amphibious Operation in History: A fleet of elderly or damaged ships were assembled to be sunk in shallow water off each of the five beach-heads, to provide shelter for the smaller craft. The first contingent moved in three convoys, codenamed ‘Corncobs’, with I and II reaching the French coast between 1200 and 1400 on the 7th and III, consisting of the oldest or slowest vessels, arriving one day later. The ships had a 10lb demolition minutes from the time of blowing the charges to the vessel settling on the bottom. The plan was for one ship to be scuttled or planted every 40 minutes. The ship’s superstructure remained above the water-level enabling the accommodation to be utilised. The shelters were named ‘Gooseberries’ and numbered 1-5. In the middle of June 1944 a violent storm wrecked the Amercian (sic) sector of the Mulberry Harbour. The British sector was also partly wrecked, but repaired with parts of the American sector.
The Normandy campaign was over by the end of August 1944. HMS Despatch left for the UK, calling in Portsmouth where the port watch commenced their leave. I remained on ship until Devonport. On arrival I was given seven days leave, with instructions to return to France. It was there my Battery 439 (light antiaircraft unit) was reformed and we made our way through the rest of France and Belgium and later a cold and wintery period in Holland. As the war ended we were in Germany. For a period I was detailed with others to a displaced persons camp. There were approximately 900 displaced persons which included mostly Polish and people from the Baltic states, Estonians etc. I remained in Germany until November that year when I was demobed (sic) in November 1945.
Bill Price June 2004
Bill’s Obituary
1938 1945 Bill in 2005 receiving the Legion de Honneur in Australia.
More information https://youtu.be/nVR2X7IYeZ0 interview
https://youtu.be/–0cClUvJlU Bill marching 2015
Internet: BBC – WW2 People’s War – “CornCob” MS Innerton & HMS Despatch, ‘Floating Mulberry Harbour’ – Bills story
William Henry (Bill) Price (b1914 South-East London)
Normandy veteran Bill Price was the first born, and the eldest of five children, to Lydia and Ernest Price on 24 July 1914, just before the outbreak of the WWI. Born a small frail child who needed specialised care, these were very difficult times. Unemployment was the norm. Bill left school in 1928 at 14, with excellent results and his first job was as a page boy at the Cafe Royal in Piccadilly. At the time, it was a popular meeting place for politicians and theatre groups. Prizes were given at the Cafe Royal to the best presented page boy and he received nine prizes after nine weeks. The next job was with the Victoria Hotel in London where the conductor Mantovani and his orchestra were known to perform. Bill then joined the Dallas music instrument company as an office boy. Times remained tough, and at one time as a young teenager, his was the only income for the family.
By 1935, Bill enjoyed spending the weekend on his bicycle riding for many miles peddling away on the countryside roads, surviving on Hovis bread and banana sandwiches. In 1937, he was peddling 30 miles a day summer and winter to work from Dury Lane to Totton Court Road in London.
Eventually the family moved to Bexley, Kent. Bill joined the Territorial Army in 1938 at White City, London, and was initially stationed to sleep on a London bus. He eventually served with the Royal Engineers, after which he was transferred to the Royal Navy as part of the Channel crossing. He found himself in convoy on the 5,000-tonne HMS Innerton, one of the first merchant ships to be holed and sunk on D-Day+1, in 1944.
Bill also served in the Royal Artillery as an anti-aircraft gunner. He was known as trigger ‘Joe’ amongst his friends. Under Churchill, Great Britain created the floating Mulberry Harbour, a secret concept of artificial harbours off the seaside town of Arromanches, Normandy, as part of OP OVERLORD. Bill served on the headquarters ship, HMS Despatch until the end of the Normandy campaign. He rejoined his Army ack-ack unit for the advance
through France and Belgium to Holland, where he ended up as welfare officer at a camp near Hamlin for 900 displaced persons of all nationalities.
Bill was demobbed in November 1945. Returning to work for Dallas Music, he met his wife-to-be, Jean, in 1946. Although the company had been bombed, the business continued with Jean as secretary to the directors. Bill and Jean were married and lived in Sheffield for nearly 40 years. Jean’s health was
fragile and having moved to Barton-on-Sea, after only a few weeks she tragically had a brain haemorrhage and died in January 1991.
During his retirement years in 1988, the Normandy Veterans Association Branch 70 was formed and Bill volunteered as the welfare officer. He served in this voluntary capacity until the standard was laid down at Ringwood Church in 2015. During those years, Bill regularly visited and drove hundreds of miles, and made numerous calls and visits to veterans’ homes and hospitals. Various community awards recognised his efforts. Bill was also an active fundraiser for the Royal British Legion and The Not Forgotten Association, being recognised with several invitations to Royal garden parties and various events at Buckingham Palace. He was privileged to be introduced to the Queen and members of the Royal Family.
In 2003, at the age of 90, Bill was travelling solo on a world cruise, and while sailing he met Australian Helen who had joined the ship at Fremantle having recently becoming a widow. A friendship developed between this unlikely couple, who both shared a passionate interest in travel and adventure. Many holidays between Australia and England and Europe blossomed into a marriage.
In 2005, Bill was recognised for his welfare services to veterans and awarded the Legion d’Honneur. The French Government sent the medal to Perth, Western Australia, as he was there at the time. There was a special reception attended by the British Consul, French Consul and an Australian Government minister, and other distinguished guests. All three flags were flying, and all three national anthems were played and sung, followed by a celebratory toast with French champagne.
During 2004, Bill initiated the D-Day Sailing Cup at the Hythe Sailing Club, Kent. This tribute was to recognise all veterans who had sailed from Southampton during OP OVERLORD on 06 June 1944. The club was annually decorated by Sue and Mike Mitchell and the companionship of fellow veterans was enjoyed. Every year on 06 June, Bill and Helen, visited Normandy and commemorated and remembered those that did not return from the Mulberry Harbour and the landings in Arromanches. Bill became the oldest veteran to revisit the British beach, code named Gold Beach by Churchill, along with various beaches designated by the allies as part of the ‘floating harbour’ that enabled troops and transport to successfully land in Europe to defeat Hitler.
The local tourist office still maintains the image of Bill in his original uniform, painted on their window, and how he looked in 2014, when he celebrated his 100th year. Bill is affectionally greeted as a ‘liberator’ along with all the veterans who visit Normandy for ceremonies and marches in early June each year. He was recognised with a front page photo in England and many articles in the French regional newspapers, local papers and various video interviews.
Bill would like to be remembered as a ‘man who did his best’ and believed in the ‘best of British’.
The preceding video was taken after a Remembrance Service. Bill is pictured on the right frame wearing his Artillery banded watch, to keep him close.