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I joined the Navy in 1944.
I was at school when the war began. We were down at Salcombe on holiday. School was in Kent but there were dogfights overhead so the school moved to Staffordshire. My first encounter with Hitler, was when he tried to bomb me. I was in hospital at the time enjoying a rest from school. I had an operation for peritonitis. I had such a glamorous surgeon. He joined the Navy, I‘m glad to say. I was sent back to nearer my home. And Hitler came over one day and dropped a bomb near the hospital and I woke up one morning and everybody was under their bed. I was covered with shattered glass. Fortunately I had a good counterpane on top and I wasn’t hurt. But suddenly to wake up and find everybody under the bed was a bit of a shock.
When I left school I did training to be a private secretary. My first job was as secretary to a Harley Street specialist. I was there for about 3 months and got bored with the girls with terrible “teef” from Roedean. So I said to myself “Right, that’s it, I’m joining up”. So one evening after I finished my work I walked down Harley Street across Green Park to the WREN s headquarters where I signed on.
I had to wait to join up so I did odd jobs through an agency. I worked in advertising, a cigarette factory in London, all sorts of things. Eventually I got called up.
We started our training at “Mill ‘ill”, as we used to call it! Even my friends still say “Mill ‘ill”. We still ring each other up sometimes. From there I was selected to become a radio mechanic because I was better at Maths than some people. We quartered out at Wood Green and attended Technical College in Walthamstow.
After that we could go on to do Radar or to the Fleet Air Arm. I was selected for Radar and sent to Collingwood outside Fareham. Everything was “hush hush” then. We used high voltages and at one point I got a lovely shock. It threw me to the ground. I spent a little time in bed and then the MO sent me back on duty. So I had to get on with it. My finger slipped on the meter and I caught my thumb. And that sent me to the floor; quite dramatic. Everybody said “Oh Garrett, we thought you were dead!” But I didn’t. I survived.
My father’s brother was in the Navy. And in the old days before the War, he used to come and have leave with us. He was very keen on the Chinese and that’s why I volunteered for overseas — to help China; only the “Japs” had already invaded. Uncle Theo was in Hong Kong or Shanghai. I sat on his knee and he used to tell me all sorts of tales. Surprising what the Chinese did ; their customs and that sort of thing. My father was Navy too and he got wounded. He was an engineer too. It goes in the family. He was very pro China.
After Collingwood I volunteered for overseas. And I went to Sydney on the Golden Hind, but that was after the war.

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