The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     TWMP on Facebook     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

242856 Ldg.Sea Francis James "Joe" Coyne Royal Navy HMS Flamingo from:Hackney, London Joe Coyne was with the Black Swan class sloop HMS Flamingo from her commissioning in 1939 to her bombing in the Mediterranean in November 1941. The ship was first deployed protecting the North Sea convoys and then took part in the Norway campaign where, as with all the RN units taking part, she was under constant dive bomb attack. Joe, at this time, was an AB and his station was on one of the ship's pom pom anti aircraft guns. He claimed never to have hit anything in spite of his best efforts. At the close of the Norway campaign, the ship was sent immediately to the Mediterranean in support of the North African and Malta convoys where she was again under constant attack from the air. By this time, because of the ship's constant movement, Joe had received no news from home for two years, so when he finally received the letter telling him that he was a father for the first time, his joy at having a baby daughter was tempered with anger at being kept so long in ignorance. As an expression of this he removed his cap and kicked it over the side. The captain on the bridge had witnessed this performance and for some extraordinary reason had the cap retrieved from the sea. His recent promotion to Leading Seaman was as a consequence reversed. In November 1941 Flamingo's luck finally ran out when she was bombed and disabled having received a direct hit in the engine room. Joe by this time had his rank restored and was now the ship's coxswain and as such was at the wheel when Flamingo was hit. The ship had rapidly taken on water and was half submerged when she was taken in tow by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart, who successfully towed her into Alexandria. Here the ship's company were redeployed, Joe returning to the UK on HMS Renown. On reaching his home port of Chatham, he was assigned to HMS Keren. The Keren had been requisitioned out of the merchant fleet where her name had been Kenya (A name she was restored to at the close of hostilities). As a liner, she was suitable for the Navy to use as a troop transport and landing ship. The Keren was deployed to the Mediterranean where she took part in the Sicily and Italy landings and later towards the end of the war, she was in support of the campaign in Burma. Joe by this time was a Petty Officer. In the interval between the end of the war in Europe and the surrender of Japan, he was employed at Chatham Barracks training Officer cadets. Joe was awarded the Atlantic, Burma, Italy and Africa stars, the latter twice. After serving eighteen years in the navy, he left the service in November 1945 having received promotion to Chief Petty Officer should he sign on for a further twelve years. Roderick Coyne Add to this record.  Related Content: Norway Siege of Malta HMS Renown HMS Keren Burma & India Campaign Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.