This is the story of Harold Williams and Emil Weingaertner who joined the Navy on opposite sides during World War II and were then united into one family during the 1970s.

September 3rd 1939
Harold Williams was aged fifteen and thought the war would be over before he was old enough to fight. He had been scrumping apples from an orchard in Combs and arrived home to Poplar Hill to find people out in their front gardens discussing the news that had just been announced on the radio.

Emil Weingaertner was working as a seventeen year old farm labourer at Banat (near Timisora, Romania) when it was declared that Britain and Germany were at war.

November 3rd 1939
Emil heard that his father Freidrich had died in Teplitz (Bessarabia, Romania) although Emil did not get the news until December. Emil returned home and got a job as an ostler to the Döbler family who were land owners.

October 20th 1940
Earlier during 1940 Russia annexed the Bessarabian district of Romania, so by October, Teplitz had to be evacuated. Everyone had to leave with all they could carry. Emil took a loaded horse and cart to Galattz in Romania where German soldiers took the horse and cart. Emil was left with just a few clothes and a bit of food. He was then put on an overloaded boat and sent down the river Danube to Hubertsburg in Saxony. There he was held in a Transit Camp, which held 5,000 people, until March 1941 when he volunteered for the German Navy and was sent to Tuschiner Wald Transit Camp in Poland holding just 500 men.

January 31st 1941
Harold was seventeen and working at the leather glove works in Milton Road, Stowmarket. He had just left off work for his lunch break when he saw a German bomber fly low over the town and turn at the far end. As it flew back over the town he saw the bomb doors open and five bombs tumble out. Four of the bombs landed directly on the Congregational Church, the fifth landed on a house in Strickland Road killing a lady, who had just returned home from the station after seeing her son off to war.

This was Harold’s first taste of war and he believes that if the plane had been a few feet higher or just a few feet to one side a large part of the main street would have been devastated by the blast, and that in many ways it was fortuitous that the bombs mainly hit the church, for although it was a fine old building it was probably the only one in the area solid enough to contain the blast.

June 1st 1941
Emil joined Kreigsmarine at Schienermünde naval base, Ostsee near Hamburg, before he moved on to Breda in Holland for three months training with five hundred other men.

September 1941
Emil, now aged nineteen, transferred to 32nd Minensuch Flotille (Minesweepers) at Le Havre, France.

October 1942
Harold joined the Navy as soon as he was eighteen and was sent to Skegness to join H.M.S. Royal Arthur (Butlins) for five weeks basic training, after which he went to H.M.S Victory at Portsmouth shore base until December 1942.

January 1943
Harold was then sent from Portsmouth to join a transport liner “Empress of Japan” with RAF aircrew trainees en-route to America and Canada. Harold spent the next five weeks at Asbury Park, New Jersey at  the Hotel Monterray before having a three day journey to New Orleans.

March 1943
Harold joined LST 63 a tank landing ship built in America by the Jefferson Boat and Machine Company of Indiana. It had a capacity to hold thirty-five tanks plus all their crews and support transport. Harold came home via Virginia, New York, Boston and Newfoundland in an eight knot convoy through the North Atlantic route which took approximately fifteen days.

April 1943
By this time Emil was at St. Malo where his flotille, which consisted of five boats each with a crew of thirty-two, was based. His boat’s number was also thirty-two and was a converted Dutch fishing trawler. During this period Emil’s flotille was involved with assisting in escorting the famous battleships the “ Scharnhorst” and  the “Prince Eugen” from Brest to St. Malo.

Emil was also credited with shooting down a Spitfire and awarded the Iron Cross (although not a gunner, he was nearest to the gun when the need arose). He was also attacked by a torpedo boat and aircraft fire and was wounded for which he was awarded the Minesweeper medal. He also spent a short while in a French Hospital suffering from jaundice.

June 1943
Harold left Liverpool loaded with a Canadian Tank Unit which consisted of Sherman tanks of the Calgary’s Own Regiment. After about three weeks at sea they arrived at Syracuse, Sicily.

July 19th 1943
Harold saw the start of the invasion of Italy. He was under fire and bombing attacks for the very first time and admits to finding it very exciting. His LST had six 20mm cannons (Oerlikons) and one 12 pounder for anti-aircraft fire. Harold spent the next few weeks running reinforcements from Tripoli and North African ports. He thought that he might never get to see any action when they heard that the Italians had surrendered, but the German command in Italy had other ideas.

September 9th 1943
Harold was at the start of the invasion of mainland Italy at Salerno with the British 8th Army on board. He describes Salerno as "a very rough place", where a small beach was surrounded by mountains and they were under constant fire from German 88mm guns. The Germans were also using ‘glider bombs’ which were remotely controlled to land on targets. One which landed close to LST 63 caused minor damage, but Harold and other members of the crew were able to pick up some of the bomb’s remains, including wing parts, for further examination back at base. They continued running supplies to the beach head through to January 1944 which Harold describes as "a very hairy occupation".

January 22nd 1944
Harold’s craft was involved with the Anzio landings. He describes Anzio as being "a little seaside town with a small harbour". One British division and one American division took part in the landings, which although unopposed, was held up for four months due to the fact that the beach head was surrounded by the German Army.

The constant bombing and shelling made the craft’s job of ferrying supplies like petrol and ammunition from Naples another very hazardous job. They also had the job of ferrying the wounded and dying civilian and military casualties back to Naples. Harold remembers being envious of the crews of the invincible looking destroyers and battleships etc. that were in the area as they passed by. Compared to these bigger ships, his relatively small (300ft) craft seemed very vulnerable. These feelings were being felt as he watched the cruiser HMS Penelope pass by, but a few hours later it was Harold’s LST that was picking up Penelope’s survivors.

April 1944
Harold left the Mediterranean in convoy and docked at Swansea and had seven days leave. From there they then went through the Channel to Felixstowe where they were loaded up with tanks, before being sent back down to the Isle of Wight.

May 30th 1944
During this period Emil was taken off his boat along with other gunners to relieve some of the regular land based soldiers. So for the next few months (including the period covering the D-Day landings), Emil manned a gun emplacement at Caen in Normandy.

June 5th 1944
Harold took part in the night time crossing of the Channel to a position just off the Normandy coast.

June 6th 1944
Harold, on LST63 with Canadian soldiers on board, landed at ‘Sword’ beach where his craft got wedged on a submerged Sherman tank that had failed to get ashore on an earlier wave. The craft was put hard astern to try and release her, but this manoeuvre only caused her to slew around until it struck another submerged tank. This time the gun barrel destroyed the twin screws rendering the craft immobile. The tide went out leaving 63 wedged partly on the top of the tank so that crew were able to walk under her keel. Harold remembers picking up live mortar shells that were embedded in the sand and had a game of throwing them at his mates - ignoring the potential dangers. When the tide returned the crew got back aboard and the craft had to be towed, backwards, across the Channel to Portsmouth where Harold and his crewmates were given a seventy-two hour leave while the boat’s propulsion mechanism was repaired.

Despite Harold and some friends being told not to leave the South Coast Militarized Area (strict security was imposed and enforced during this sensitive time) they boarded a train and got to London. They crossed London unopposed despite the city being described as “crawling with Military Police” (MPs) and got on a train at Liverpool Street Station back to Stowmarket. So the day after D-Day he walked in on his mother at her Poplar Hill house where she had been listening to the unfolding events of the last 24 hours on her crystal set radio. She said that she was “glad that he wasn’t caught up in all this lot”, to which he replied, “I’ve been there and back again”. After his unexpected leave he rejoined LST 63 and continued taking supplies to the Normandy beach heads for several more weeks.

June 9th 1944
Emil was sent back to join his flotille but a few of the crew deserted at St Malo including Sergeant Schultz. Emil remembers being fired upon by Partisans from a church tower while they were in harbour. One week after D-Day, Emil was sent to the Channel Islands where they lived on board their boat and carried out shore patrols in St Helier, Jersey. Emil was instructed in the use of grenade launchers, though he never had to use this skill in anger. Due to food shortages caused by the Allied blockade, Emil often had to share a loaf of bread between eight people and was shown how to make nettle soup. On his nights off, Emil got friendly with some of the islanders and used to help make syrup from sugar beet for a loaf of bread. This style of life continued right until the end of the war.

July 1944
Harold left LST 63 and transferred to a shore base at Hayling Island, Hampshire, with Combined Operations (Combined Ops) which was involved in training SAS type units for preparation in crossing the Rhine. This was only a short stay because he then joined HMS Cawsand Bay, a brand new Bay Class frigate built at the Blythe shipyards in Northumberland.

May 8th 1945
Harold was on board this new boat when he heard the news that Germany had surrendered and shortly afterwards the Cawsand Bay was detailed to escort ships of the German navy from Wilhelmshaven to Scotland, as a condition of the surrender. The Cawsand Bay was also involved in Operation Deadlight and was one of the ships that was used to tow many of the German U-Boat submarine fleet out into the North Atlantic, where they were used for target practice and sunk. Harold says that he was involved with sinking more U-Boats than the rest of the British Navy!

May 9th 1945
The German occupying forces on the Channel Islands, of which Emil was a part, surrendered the day after the official surrender was announced. The following day, Emil and all the other crews and German military personnel, were taken off their boats and marched through the streets of St Helier to the pier. Emotions ran high as the locals pelted Emil and the others with rotten eggs, tomatoes and slop to cause maximum humiliation. First of all everyone was put into a prison camp near St Helier airport but after a short while the main part of the occupying force was sent to a Prisoner of War (PoW) camp in England. Emil, however, along with other ordinary seamen, were made to stay behind to clear the shore line of mines and barbed wire etc.

October 1945
Emil was then shipped to a camp at Tlbury in Essex where he could see Admiral Doenitz, who was also held captive, exercising on a nearby hotel balcony whilst Emil had to make do with a small ridge tent with straw bedding that slept four people. The Germans were treated badly by the Polish cooks and were only given bread and water. Emil says that they were looked after better by their English guards. After a short while, Emil was moved again, this time he ended up at Maldon near Colchester in Essex, where he stayed at the Parochial Hall. It was here that he started working within the confines of the camp, building concrete roads on piecework. At this time Emil was also occasionally let out to work on nearby farms. During one of these days off camp, Emil remembers one of his guards falling asleep on duty, so he and some others were able to get the guard’s gun and hide it. However, this was not a serious breakout attempt and the gun was given back to the embarrassed but lucky guard and everyone ended up laughing about the whole incident.

March 1946
Emil was sent to PoW camp 250 at Hardwick in Bury St Edmunds where he began working at several farms before finally settling down at Street Farm, Chedburgh. He lived in a house on the farm and it was from here that he met and started courting the local Postmistress by the name of Edna Rolfe.

June 1946
As its purpose had been served in bringing about the end of the conflict, Harold’s ship was brought back to Portsmouth where it was ‘mothballed’ along with several others. Harold was then de-mobilised (demobbed) and went back to Stowmarket where he courted a Haughley girl named Marjorie King.

August 28th 1948
Twenty-three year old Harold Ernest Williams married Marjorie Edna King on the day before her nineteenth birthday at Haughley Parish Church. They lived for a few years with Fred and Nell Williams, Harold’s parents, in Poplar Hill, Combs Ford before moving to their own council house in Stowmarket in 1952.

November 25th 1948
Twenty-six year old Emil Weingaertner married Edna May Rolfe at Chevington Church. He was also released from PoW status at this time but certified as an alien and had to report to camp once a week, as well as to the police station if he wanted to travel out of the immediate area.

June 1949
Emil was given the chance to take part in a government organised repatriation scheme so was able to go with his new wife back to Germany. While there he was officially demobbed at Munster and then went to the Stuttgart area to visit relatives. He was given the opportunity to stay in Germany but decided to take his chance and return to England. They lived for a few years at Chevington, but eventually ended up living in Bury St Edmunds.

September 3rd 1949
Emil and Edna’s daughter Rosemary was born on the tenth anniversary of the outbreak of war.

June 6th 1950
Harold and Marjorie’s son Stephen James Williams was born on the sixth anniversary of D-Day.

June 6th 1970
Kerry Jayne Weingaertner was born to Rosemary on the twenty-sixth anniversary of D-Day at Cambridge Hospital.

July 21st 1973

Twenty-three year old Stephen Williams married Rosemary Weingaertner of the same age at Bury St Edmunds Register Office and returned to live in Stowmarket. Emil’s occupation was given as farm stockman and Harold was listed as colour matcher at the ICI paints factory.




If you have any stories which you would like to share, then please email them to kerry.burn@onesuffolk.co.uk