Veteran, 99, says there are ‘not many of us left' ahead of VJ Day anniversary

South Wales Guardian

2 days ago

Dougie Shelley, who joined the Royal Navy aged 17, served as a seaman gunner on the Arctic convoys and was later posted to the Pacific and Australia.
He said he was out in the Far East at the end of the war and described those who survived to celebrate as 'lucky fellas'.
Mr Shelley, who lives in a retirement housing complex in Southend, Essex, said he will turn 100 next month.
'Yep, an old, old sailor of 100 years old,' he said.
'There's not many of us left, mate. We've sailed the seven seas.'
He continued: 'At the end of the war we were out in the Far East but we came into Hong Kong, and that's where it was at the end of the war.
'We went into the China Fleet Club. Boy, did we have a lovely time.
'My god, all those lucky fellas.'
He served on several ships including the HMS Milne, which he described as 'the biggest ship the Royal Navy ever built' at the time.
'And boy what a ship,' said Mr Shelley.
His carer Paul Bennett, who served in the Army and met him at a local veterans club in 2016, said he will watch Friday's VJ Day memorial service on TV with Mr Shelley.
Mr Bennett, 77, said he spends two hours with Mr Shelley each day and does his shopping, cleaning, laundry and other tasks for him.
'I do it out of respect for him and his service,' said Mr Bennett.
'He was in the Arctic Convoys in the war.
'He was in the (HMS) Milne and the (HMS) Armada.'
Mr Bennett said Mr Shelley 'spent his life as an able seaman, he never got promoted or anything – failed his bosuns exams because he had eye trouble'.
'He tells me he got sunk twice when he was in the Arctic and managed to survive both sinkings,' he said.
'Then he was there on D-Day in the Milne supporting the chaps going off to land in craft ashore in Normandy and he was a gunner keeping the skies clear of enemy aircraft and all that sort of thing.
'So, he's done his bit.
'He always says to me he misses the people he served with.
'The problem of course now is there's none of them left.'
Mr Shelley, who has no known surviving family, followed his brother and uncle into the Royal Navy.
Mr Bennett said: 'His claim to fame is he lied about his age to join the Navy and got in, and he said it was the best time of his life.
'He left the Navy in 1947, did a few jobs, then went back into the Merchant Navy for some years.'
He said Mr Shelley worked on ships taking so-called Ten Pound Poms to Australia and also had jobs in security and as a driver for the Ministry of Defence.
One of Mr Shelley's roles on the HMS Milne was as the 'rum bosun', Mr Bennett said, and Mr Shelley would sound a pipe and call 'up spirits' before the daily rum ration was given out.