William Thomas Webb in the submarine service

William was born on 20th September 1918 in Coventry. His mother died in 1930, and he was then sent to the Watts Naval Training School in East Dereham, Norfolk, a Barnardo's home run by the Royal Navy along the lines of a ship.

William joined the British submarine service in 1940. He patrolled the German coast and escorted Arctic convoys to Russia. He served on the HHMS Pipinos, a Greek submarine, in 1943. He was interested in French and wanted to be stationed on a French ship but was sent to a Greek one. He wrote down his experiences serving with the Greeks in a book; he was witness to the opening stages of the Greek Civil War.

It was when joining the Greek submarine in Barrow in 1943 that he met Sheila.