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Description
Mr. Rusling talks about a battle that took place close to Malta and the time when he was on deck and he saw a German torpedo bomber heading for their vessel, the Marksman. However, this bomber never fired its guns on the Marksman. He really thought the end had come for him.
Frank Rusling
Frank Rusling est né à Belton, Lincolnshire, Angleterre, le 30 janvier 1922. Son père a fait déménager sa famille dans le comté de Suffolk, en Angleterre, où il a grandi. Il s'est enrôlé dans la Marine royale à l'âge de 15 ans parce qu'il adorait l'océan. Il est entré au service des communications de la Marine et a reçu l'instruction en signalisation visuelle. Il était très doué dans ce domaine et a rapidement gravi les échelons pour atteindre le grade de timonier. Le premier navire sur lequel il a servi fut le HMS Sheffield. Toutefois, il a travaillé sur d'autres navires et s'est rendu dans diverses parties du monde avec la Marine royale. Après la guerre, il a joint les rangs des policiers du Canadien Pacifique, où il a travaillé pendant 30 ans. Il habite aujourd'hui à Saint John, Nouveau-Brunswick.
Transcription
The epic of that battle was beyond, it's incredulous, it's difficult to explain, though the warships were running out of ammunition. I know our own vessel was at a point where one more day and we would have had no armaments, no ammunition to fire at anything. Also on the night of the 11th, of the 13th, I can remember leaving the bridge of the Marksman to go down to the signal office just one deck below - I can't remember what floor, but anyhow - when I came to come back out of the bridge just a few minutes afterwards I stepped out onto the flag deck and was coming up extern, on the external gangway and as I stepped out of that signal office door to my left I looked up and there was a German torpedo bomber heading right for the ship. It seemed so close and it was coming for the bridge super structure. I remember looking at it and I remember thinking to myself, well this is it. I could not see how that plane could not have crashed right into the area where I was standing and then I suddenly realized that the guns were not firing. Normally if they were doing, diving like that at a ship they would also be firing their armament.