L/Sea. George Joseph Rocks
Royal Navy RMS Lancastria
My father is George Rocks, occupation greaser on many Royal Navy ships during his seven years of service. On 17th of June 1940, he was reassigned from greaser, given a pair of binoculars, and assigned to the bow of the RMS Lancastria on submarine watch. It should be noted that he never did learn how to swim. The Lancastria was anchored three miles off-shore at St. Nazaire, France and spent the day taking on military personnel and civilians escaping the German advance into France. At about 3:30 p.m. a German airplane dropped several bombs that struck home, sinking the Lancastria within 20 minutes.
The loss of life was staggering. The estimates are from 4,500 to 8,500 dead. This heavy toll was due to filling every available space on Lancastria with fleeing British and French military and civilian personnel. Winston Churchill, fearing the effect this loss of life would have on morale, declared a non-disclosure of the facts and sealed the records relating to this tragedy for 100 years. My father was so affected by the tremendous loss of friends and the sheer magnitude of the disaster that his brothers and sisters have since stated that it had negatively affected him as he no longer saw the beauty and wonder of this world. He was discouraged also by the fact that no one was officially notified about the disaster taking place. About 10 years ago, The Lancastria Society of Scotland pressured their politicians to strike a medal in commemoration of the sinking of the Lancastria. I applied for, and received my father's medal. Unfortunately, he died ten years too soon and never had the opportunity to hear someone tell him that they know what he went through and appreciate the sacrifices he made for his king and country. When I looked at my father's Continuous Certificate of Discharge book I realized that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was unknown back then.
My father's Continuous Certificate of Discharge book shows that he was allowed the time to wipe the oil and salt off his face, get new uniforms, and get on the next available ship. His book documents him next serving on the MV Carnarvon Castle, followed by HMS Mersey, HMS Trailer, HMS Hunter, HMS Asbury, HMS Imgadine, HMS Chaser, and HMS Golden Hind before being discharged on 15th of June 1946. (I am sorry if I've misspelled the name of one or two of the ships some of the inked entries in his Discharge book have been negatively affected by time.) On the lighter side, my dad told me that he was leery about purchasing hard liquor when he visited the ports in the Pacific as he was burned on an occasion or two. The sellers would put tea water in bottles to match the color of the liquor being offered. Then, where the paper band wraps around the neck of the bottle, the seller would insert wax, followed by a measure of genuine liquor. That way the seller can remove the sealed cap and pour a small amount of the liquor for the unsuspecting sailor to sample before parting with his money.
