230944 Joseph Ridley Royal Navy HMS Manchester from:Birmingham I am an American and was living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the war. My father brought a British sailor home, who he met in a bar and befriended. He was Joe Ridley and his ship, HMS Manchester, had been torpedoed and was being repaired in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Joe became a regular house guest. I was only about three years old and he took me to the zoo and other places.
At that time we had what we called "blackouts", whereby the sirens would go off at night, the searchlights would scan the sky for German bombers and all lights, by law, had to be turned off. The American public did not know that the Germans did not have bombers that could reach America, but the Roosevelt administration would not let them know that so as to keep up as much war sentiment as possible.
Joe Ridley told my mother that his city of Birmingham had been bombed and that the safest place in the house was under the stairwell, which would possibly be the only part of the house left standing if bombed. My mother would then round up the "nippers" (not a word understood in America) as instructed by Joe and park us under the stairwell. Needless to say, no bombs.
In recent years I have wondered what happened to Joe, particularly as I have been to England quite a few times as a tourist and on business. I would have loved to have found that he was alive and paid a surprise visit. I did some research on the Royal Navy archives and learned of the Manchester sinking after it left Philadelphia and went to the Mediterranean. I was never able to find any information on Joe Ridley but I still remember him in his uniform. If anyone knows of Joe please contact me.
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