Geoffrey Hoyle Beckwith in the Royal Navy in the Malay peninsula
Geoffrey Hoyle Beckwith served in the Royal Navy from 1944. He grew up in Leeds, and his father was a warden in an army jail. He went straight from grammar school to the Navy. He studied German and spoke it well. He also studied Japanese when he went East.
He served on HMS Blackmore from 1944 to the end of the war (31 Dec 1944 - 30 Sep 1945) as a radio operator and signals interpreter. At Penang port in the Malay Peninsula, he dove off the ship and struck a sunken ship, suffering a serious head injury and ending up in hospital (specific documentation around this is unknown).
After his injury, he was deemed unfit to serve. He was sent to HMS Nagina. He left the psychiatric unit at Fareham on 4 Oct 1945 and was discharged. He also contracted malaria. He was awarded the Burma Star.
After the war, he became a forester and spent 10 years with the Forestry Commission before working on estates around the country.
History
Item list and details
1. Service record 2. ID card and photographs 3. HMS Blackmore photograph 4. Father's medals 5. Father's diary 6. First aid posterPerson the story/items relate to
Geoffrey Hoyle BeckwithPerson who shared the story/items
Robert BeckwithRelationship between the subject of the story and its contributor
FatherType of submission
Shared at Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, Hampshire on 27 October 2023.Record ID
103123 | GOS013Usage metrics
