Percival William Beaver

Percy joined the service as a band boy when
he was just 15. He attended various music schools for the next two years until 1941 when he went aboard HMS Cochrane as a musician playing the Saxophone.

Over the next 11 years Percy would serve on two other ships, HMS Howe and HMS Norfolk. On HMS Howe Percy had some extra jobs to do, one of them being a gun phone operator where he would give the gunners instructions as when to load the guns.

HMS Norfolk was his favourite. This was the only ship where he was involved in night watches. It was 4 hours on, 4 hours off. He travelled to the Far East after the war waving the Victory flag. He travelled from Plymouth to Ceylon where there was a naval base. He then travelled through the Persian Gulf, the Seychelles and Singapore and finally returned in 1949.

Courtesy of Julia Merrick
[Granddaughter]