Huddersfield’s veteran war heroes tell their stories

Jan 13 2009 by David Himelfield, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Huddersfield’s veteran war heroes tell their stories; pictures

HUDDERSFIELD area war veterans gathered at the George Hotel for their annual dinner.

And, as usual, they reminisced about the service they gave for their country.

The memories and the stories were shared before, during and after a meal organised by the Huddersfield and District Army Veterans’ Association.

The guests included servicemen from the RAF, Navy and British and foreign armies.

All veterans, some volunteers, some conscripts, have seen action across the globe.

Here are some of their stories.

WILLIE HAIGH

When a person joins the armed forces they never know what to expect. And no- one who joined the Allied effort during the Second World War ever anticipated being dive-bombed by suicide pilots.

That’s what happened to Paddock-born Mr Haigh when he was on the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Victorious in the Pacific Ocean, 50 miles from Japan.

As the Americans prepared to invade Japan the Japanese became more and more desperate and kamikaze pilots deliberately crashed explosive-laden planes into allied ships.

And in 1945 the Victorious was attacked by kamikazes.

Mr Haigh, 83, now of Linthwaite, remembers: “We’d see planes approaching and hoped they were ours.

“When we realised they were kamikazes we had to go below and let the anti-aircraft gunners do their job.

“It was terrifying. When one of them hit us there was a loud bang and a large piece of the landing deck came through.”

Mr Haigh, who was responsible for ensuring planes took off and landed safely, also helped in raids on Malaysia and on the German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian fiord.

He was decorated with four medals.

HARRY MARSDEN

“When we saw the German boat that had sunk our boat coming towards us we thought we’d had it,” says 86-year-old Harry Marsden.

Mr Marsden, born on Northgate, Huddersfield, joined the Merchant Navy after volunteering in 1937.

The merchant ship Indus, travelling towards Australia, was sunk by shellfire which killed 30 people.

Mr Marsden managed to climb aboard a raft, but it wasn’t long before he was picked up by the Germans.