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Yeoman Sigs. Herbert Edward "Sharkey" Ward
Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve HMS Cormorant
from:Chatham
My father, Herbert Ward joined the RNVR in early 1939, as he said he knew a war was coming, and he did not want to end up in the trenches as his father-in-law had done in WW1. He was a telegraphist in the GPO in the days leading up to war. He got married on 2nd December 1939 in his uniform in South London. I know his cap badge read HMS Cormorant on his wedding day. He lived in Chatham for a while.
I am not clear about where he served in WW2, but he did say he took passage to Gibraltar on HMS Queen Elizabeth the WWI dreadnought. He was in Gibraltar for a while and eventually turned up in Malta. He met his brother-in-law George Hopkins in Malta, I believe sometime in 1942. George Hopkins was serving on HMS London, and later served on the Russian convoys on this ship.
From Malta my father was involved in the Sicily landings, serving alongside army staff from their Signals Regiment. After that, all is not clear, my father was reluctant to talk about it and when I asked him he said it was nothing to brag about!
He remained in the RNVR after the war and was a Yeoman Petty Officer attached to HMS President moored along the Thames, which I believe was the London headquarters of the Navy Reserve. I well remember the Christmas parties on board and running around the guns which were on the lower deck. I believe he had five medals - Indian Star, African Star, Service Medal, Defence Medal and the Post Office medal. That is all I remember.
