160338 Leading Stoker. Cyril Claude Phillips Royal Navy HMS Warpsite from:Ogmore Vale, South Wales My step father Cyril Claude Phillip was a leading stoker on HMS Warspite. I do know that he was a boxing champ in the Navy, he had hands like shovels, is there a listing of crew, somewhere or champions of ships? I know the ships had inter ship boxing matches within their fleets. He had left school at 14 and went straight down the mines in Ogmore Vale in South Wales and then made his way to London, looking for work with his mates and they all signed up together. He was very proud of having served on the Warspite and the only time I saw him in tears was when he told me the story of a bomb going off in his boiler room and mates of his getting killed. He had all his clothes blown off, with out a scratch and him and another mate sewed up the bodies and then got drunk on their shipmates rum, singing abide with me! This was the song he had chosen for his funeral which we sang.
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