Marmite!! Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 (edited) Some members will know Boysie from the BB Show which he attended every year. Last Sunday 90 years old Harold "Boysie" Porter was killed in a fire at his house. RIP Boysie Courtesy of the Brentwood Gazette HAROLD 'Boysie' Porter proudly wears a tunic with a row of six Second World War medals gleaming on his left breast – 70 years to the month after he was conscripted. They were presented to him in recognition of his efforts during the war in Europe and on the sub-continent His war experiences take in North Africa and the brutal battle of Salerno – the first stage of the allied invasion of Italy in 1943. He later ended up with post traumatic stress disorder and was deemed unfit to fight – until, that is, his name was called out on a Sunday afternoon parade drill and he was told he would be heading to Burma to fight the Japanese. Boysie was conscripted 70 years ago at the age of 19 as a Royal Navy stoker in the engine room of a beachhead landing craft. After six months training he left Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire on a flat-bottomed landing craft heading for North Africa and the Mediterranean to deliver fuel, ammunition and tanks to the troops. The first port of call was in Arzew in Algeria and from there he headed to the Italian island of Pantelleria, located between Sicily and Tunisia. He was 20 when his vessel narrowly escaped being bombed, although he would later spend his 21st birthday in hospital with shrapnel wounds sustained when a Stuka bombed the jetty at Pantelleria. The 89-year-old, from Snakes Hill, Navestock – who turns 90 next month – said: "When I got injured, American medics came with a Jeep, put me in a stretcher and took me to the American field hospital. "I lay in bed and when I regained consciousness I asked the young GI in the bed next to mine what day it was. "He said July 14, 1943. "It was my 21st birthday. "What a day to remember. "No cake, no candles and no cards and after ten days I was back to duty." He would spend the next six months travelling backwards and forwards across the Med visiting Soussa, Noto and Sicily, not to mention Algeria and Tunisia. He would later see fighting in Salerno, which was one of the most prominent beachheads for the Allies as they began their long campaign through Italy on their way to Rome. He added: "You can take your pick of any one of the four of North Africa, Sicily, Pantelleria and Salerno. "When you are facing heavy gunfire and the enemy are trying to bomb you out of the water they are all terrifying." He would return home unannounced to Kelvedon Hatch just before Christmas 1943 for 14 days' leave – the only leave he'd had since he was called up on June 10, 1942, his mother's birthday. He recalled: "I walked through my front door, the same one I had walked out of 18 months before. "My mother stood six feet away from me and said 'Who are you? Get out of my house'. "She did not know me. I had lost 20 pounds in weight. "I turned from a young man to an old man in 18 months." He later went before a Naval Medical Board which suspected he was suffering from shell shock and ruled him out of future action. Yet in August 1944, he was told he was being transferred to the Army and at the end of that year he was sent to India with the Essex Regiment, prior to his posting to Burma at the beginning of 1945. There he saw action in Arakan and Tiddim in a series of skirmishes with the Japanese. "Burma was not nice at all," he said. "We've all heard of what jungle warfare is like, but then there is the heat and monsoon rains, the mosquitoes, leeches and malaria – that was a real killer." He also candidly admitted what it felt like to take the life of another human being. He said: "It's inhuman, but it could have been my life. "It's either you or them and that gives you no option. "You see it all but you never forget – it was so bad. "War is a useless bloody thing." IN HIS own words, Boysie remembers one night in 1943 when his ship found eight very lucky Americans bobbing in the middle of the Mediterranean. "We were returning to Sousse in Tunisia after taking supplies to Sicily," he said. "At about 1am, in pitch black, the lookout heard cries for help and hove to. "We were only travelling at about four knots. "In the water were eight American sailors clinging to a Carley craft, all covered in thick black oil. "One was badly injured. "We got them all aboard. "They stripped off and we washed them down with diesel oil. "That was the only way to clean off the heavy black oil. "They were survivors of a US sub-chaser – similar to one of our frigates. "They did not know if it was an internal explosion or an enemy torpedo that sunk their ship but at least we saved them to fight another day." Incident No: 20782 Date: 04-11-2012 Time: 12:36 Details: Fatal house fire Address: Snakes Hill, Navestockside, Brentwood Attendance: 2 x Brentwood, 1 x Loughton, 1 x Ongar Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are using two hose reels to tackle a blaze in a semi detached property. Crews arriving at the scene report that the whole of the ground floor is well alight and the whole of the two storey building smoke logged. They are currently making a search of the property. Update 13:06 hrs: The incident commander reports that the fire now appears to be under control. Crews wearing breathing apparatus are using four hose reels to douse flames. One elderly male casualty has been brought out of the property by crews and left in the care of the Ambulance Service. Firefighters have discovered a gas leak and at 13:45 hrs report that the leak is under control and the property is being ventilated. The Gas Board is in attendance. A search of the property has been completed and everyone has been accounted for. The incident was dealt with by 15:42 hrs. A joint Police and Fire Service investigation will be carried out to establish the cause. Update 15:54 hrs Monday: This incident has been confirmed as fatal. Police and fire service investigations continue. Edited November 10, 2012 by Marmite!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 A very sad end. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
private mw Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 r.i.p , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 What a sad thing to happen. Rest In peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmite!! Posted November 14, 2012 Author Share Posted November 14, 2012 VIDEO: Harold 'Boysie' Porter's wartime service marked by film http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/VIDEO-Harold-Boysie-Porter-s-wartime-service/story-17300491-detail/story.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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