211251 Stoker 1st Class. George Ernest Jewitt Royal Navy HMS Cossack from:Stockton-on-Tees My grandfather, George Ernest Jewitt, was one of the boarders (with a pick axe handle) from HMS Cossack during the boarding of the Altmark, and later took part in the 2nd Battle of Narvik. During this latter engagement he earned the DSM for his bravery under fire. My mother and father have recently uncovered a pencil drawing my grandfather drew later in life, of himself during the battle, and this is annotated with his thoughts from those moments. The drawing shows George with a bandage around his head, running along the deck carrying shells between the fore and aft guns during the action, whilst Cossack was struck by shore gunfire seven times. The annotations state that he was conscious of everything I did, and expecting an explosion any minute. It also states that he was doing this with shrapnel injuries to his eye and leg. As a child I never understood why my grandfather suffered so much from his nerves, but these never left him, even into his eighties. Knowing what I do now, it seems all too obvious.
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