246448 Sig. Henry Edward Weeks Royal Navy My late father, Henry Weeks served from February 1942 until December 1945 as firstly a Convoy Ordinary Signalman and then as a Convoy Signalman.
According to Navy Command his record states that he served on HMS Royal Arthur between 25th of February 1942 and 13th of July 1942. He later served on the Russian Convoys and took the signal that the Scharnhorst had been sighted. The story is that he took copies of the signal and swopped them for jars of coffee. During one of his convoy trips he was reported Missing for six weeks and eventually turned up in Russia. He said that during one of their trips to Russia the cargo had shifted and they were sailing at an acute angle through 60 feet waves and expected the ship to turnover at any moment. The captain got them through safely but sadly had a mental breakdown afterwards. Whilst in Russia he said the cold was unimaginable and being a small man he bought a fur hat to keep his head warm. He could not understand why he was constantly being saluted and eventually realised that the colour of the fur, white, indicated an officer rank hence the salutes.
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