209601 CPO Kenneth Stanley Lever Royal Navy Sick Berth Attendant HMS Penelope from:Rochdale My Father was taken into the navy as a sick berth attendant, but was actually wanted for his background in engineering. At the time the Navy had quota's and the officer recruiting him said he would obviously be retrained given his background education (he was later a P/O trained as a diver, and CPO articifer serving on HMS Montclaire in the Pacific)
However, he was onboard Penelope in Malta as a sick berth attendant whilst the ship was in drydock. She was constantly being bombed and most of the crew were ashore sheltering. During the many raids the ship was running short of antiaircraft shells, my Dad strapped on a shell carrier and brought ammunition from ashore for the 5 inch HA guns. The gunnery officer had him recommended for a "mentioned in despatches" This was sent by the captain to the admiral in Malta, who forwarded it to London where it was conveniently forgotten, or disallowed. In the book 'Our Penelope' his name has the asterix mentioned in despatches, but only in the book given to the crew. The same book on general release the mention is omitted.
|