209408 Pte. Robert Willacey British Army from:Heywood, Lancashire My Dad Robert Willacey, survived the Lancastria sinking. His story is slightly different from other versions. He was above sea level with mates and saw the German plane approaching. He realised they had no chance and jumped off the ship. He said one of the bombs went down the funnel which presumably explains all the oil in the water. Some was ignited so being a good swimmer he dived and swimming towards shore he came up for air when he saw no flames above him. Some people sadly came up into the flames.He swam all the way to the coast and was later sent back to England. He became a desert rat fighting Rommel in Africa where he was a tank driver and had some horrendous experiences. Moving on to Sicily he became a POW but escaped and finished the war in Naples.He had shrapnel injuries and spent a year in an Italian hospital. He helped to evacuate locals from the erupting Vesuvius just after the war in 1945. My parents had married Xmas Eve 1939 in Manchester Cathedral. Mum didn't see him when his leave ended after returning from France in 1940 until 1945. He died at the age of 84 in 2003.
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