The Star: July 29, 2021

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The Star Thursday July 29 2021 16 our people – ken wright From The Blitz to Bromley – armed Able Seaman Ken Wright put interservice rivalries aside when he found the damaged family plot of Canterbury’s first Victoria Cross recipient, Sergeant Henry Nicholas, on a wander through Bromley cemetery. The Korea War veteran then launched a successful campaign to repair the earthquakedamaged resting place. Chris Barclay revisits Wright’s wartime experiences and his peaceful transition to Christchurch via Dunedin SERVICE: Ken Wright today and at 15, three weeks into Royal Navy training, which saw him spend 2 1/2 years on the HMS Ceylon (below). As a child in London he was sent north during The Blitz (top right). Later, he was part of the barrack guard that lined Fleet Street for Princess Margaret’s wedding. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN You’re from London, innit? So there must be a football team you follow? Queens Park Rangers. I was born round Kingsbury but I lived in Willesden, northwest London. I had a trial for their nursery team. It was a lovely day and I played a blinder. I got the call to go to another one and it was piddling with rain. I played like a clown and needless to say I didn’t get another call. But you took to another profession like the proverbial duck to water at age 15 when you managed to join the Royal Navy in 1950? Dad didn’t like the idea, I had to fill in some of the papers and sign for him. They accepted me. I put 17 down, but they crossed it out. They knew I was lying. I had 13 months at HMS St Vincent, a training establishment for boys and juniors in Portsmouth. I always wanted to join the navy. Backtracking, you were born in 1935. Do you still have vivid memories of World War 2? There’s things you never forget, especially the bombing. The V2s (flying bombs) and all that stuff. Having to go down to a shelter in the courtyard of our estate that was covered in piss. They didn’t care, some of the people. They’d use it as a toilet and bugger off. Sometimes mum would stick us in a cupboard under the stairs. We had a little bed there. I was four when it started, you grew up very quick. We were bombed out (with incendiaries) three times, twice in 1941 and also 1943. Were you evacuated to safer ground during The Blitz? After the second (family home was destroyed) dad said: ‘You’re going up north’. I went to Birmingham when I was seven with my brother (Stan was 10) for about two months. Although the people were nice who put us up, we thought we belonged at home. We went to school one morning and went straight to the A5 and down to London. A truck driver dropped us all the way home. I won’t tell you what mum (Dorothy) said, the old man (Frank) was dead cross. He was a fireman; mum worked in a munitions factory. Despite the death and destruction, to some extent did you feel bulletproof at that age? You used to pursue the Doddlebugs when they were whistling by and dropping from June 1944. We were the second site for the V1 and 2s (unguided jetpropelled missiles) to come in, north-west London. The East End had a hell of a battering. You heard them first, they made a hell of a noise, then they’d go silent. We got on our bikes and we’d chase after them. Then we just stood back and watched or they’d go off before we got there. To see someone’s house blown up wasn’t very nice really. You were obviously too young to enlist in World War 2, but by 16 you were experiencing another conflict, thousands of nautical miles from home. I’d never even heard of the Korean War and it had been going eight months. We were only kids, you didn’t even read a newspaper. One day we were told we were going to Liverpool by train and we’re going to catch a troopship out towards the Mediterreanan. We got out to the Med and they put us in the picture, we weren’t here for a holiday. We were to join (the crew) of two cruisers. I started on the Belfast, we did bombardments, mainly at night, off the west coast. We actually hit a train. The captain was well pleased. We were hit once, a shell from a shore battery went through and killed one of the cooks. There were confronting sights too, weren’t there, involving downed enemy pilots or sailors? Some bodies swelled up, they were bloated. The Royal Marines used to go up to the fo’c’sle end, the sharp end, and shoot holes in them so they’d go down. It was just the same as giving them a burial at sea. Speaking of imagery, there’s some tattoos on your arms, when did you embark on that seafaring rite of passage? The first one ever in Singapore – 1951. That’s when they were using a needle, not electric or nothing, just a plain needle in a holder. They’d dip it in ink. This was in a village in Singapore, a right out of the way place. What does it signify? ‘Mum and Dad’, because we were all mum and dad boys. How long was your tour of duty in Korea? We were there for 15 months, three on the Belfast, the rest on the Ceylon. Move over dots. Here come the yellow squares. Queen. King. Super King. Same price. Sleepyhead Limited Edition Bed $2499 Up to 68% off Love every detail. Especially the price. In-store and online now. LG 48” 4K Smart OLED TV 48OLEDA1 9070152 $2199 100 ONLY Offers valid from Wednesday 28 July 2021, end dates may vary, while stocks last or unless otherwise stated. Some products on display in selected stores only
Thursday July 29 2021 The Star our people 17 service and war grave restoration TOGETHER: Ken and Bronwyn have been married for 31 years; Ken next to the repaired grave and headstone of Canterbury’s first VC recipient, Sergeant Henry Nicholas, which he was instrumental in getting restored. Photos: GeoFF Sloan You also steamed into other troubled waters north of the 38th parallel during your decade on the high seas. We did the Suez Crisis (second Arab-Israeli war). That only took six days (October 29 – November 7, 1956). Then we had the Cyprus Emergency, we used to do the patrol round the island trying to catch (Greek Cypriot) gunrunners. Before those confrontations the Ceylon was engaged in escort duty, which brought you to New Zealand just before Christmas 1953. After Korea we went down to Hong Kong. We were told to clean up the ship because we were going to escort Queen Elizabeth II (the first reigning monarch to visit New Zealand). We got to Auckland on December 23. When he got to Dunedin we anchored outside Port Chalmers because the harbour was too small. We got shore leave and took the train to Dunedin, that made my day. It was beautiful, I just fell in love with the place. It was a great difference for people like me who lived in a bombed-out bloody London to a place so peaceful like that. I always said I’d come back to Dunedin. The Queen boarded the Ceylon during that tour to show her appreciation. Tell us about your dealings with her sister, Princess Margaret. I was drafted into the barrack guard at St Vincent, it was all ceremonial stuff. We lined Fleet St for Princess Margaret’s wedding (to Anthony Armstrong-Jones in May 1960). It was part of the parade route. If anyone came forward we pushed them back. A few years later I was working in a timber yard; Princess Margaret and Armstrong-Jones were building a pagoda on the little lake at their place in Reigate. We had tea and buns with them. Tony was a nice bloke, very sociable. He’d be be working alongside us, banging nails in. What other employment occupied your time as a landlubber? I learnt to drive an electric milk float, then I was a conductor and driver on the London buses. I had the 52 out of Victoria up to Mill Hill and the 6 to Brixton. I did that for two years then I got a bit fed up arguing with people who didn’t want to pay the fare. Then I took on window cleaning and decorating. British sex comedy movie Julie Walters Confessions of a Window Cleaner was released in 1974. Anything you’d be willing to divulge? I was cleaning the windows in Chelsea/Fulham one day, just casual, and there’s (actress) Julie Walters in the nuddy, standing there like a goddess. She was quite a star in them days. I cleaned that window twice over. You fulfilled the pledge to come back to Dunedin, because an Otago lass on her OE in 1988 started pulling pints at your local in Surrey, The Blackamoor’s Head. I met Bronwyn in Chessington. She was only there by chance. She was staying with a friend and one day decided she’d walk one way to Chessington instead of the other way to Tolworth. She went into the pub and got a job. There’s a 30-year age gap, that must have been a talking point in the boozer? We got a bit of ridicule in the beginning in England, not sure so much here. It was more: ‘Good on you’. We’ve been married 31 years. We had Hayley and Samantha when I was 56 and 58. Being an older father didn’t hold me back much, I was fit and healthy back then. Window cleaning and the decorating kept you in pretty good nick. The age difference means a bit more now, I’m getting lazy, which is a shame really. After flitting between the UK and Dunedin since 1990, you settled in Mosgiel in 2001. During a visit to Christchurch soon after you found Henry Nicholas’ family plot in Bromley cemetery. The headstone was upright then, but not when you moved to Christchurch last November to be closer to your daughters. It was a bloody mess and for a chap that’s got the VC, he deserves a lot better than that. Being an ex-serviceman I revere the Victoria Cross. Fortunately the (New Zealand) Remembrance Army stepped up to repair it. We’ve donated to (the army) and we encourage other people to do the same for things like this. Does the UK do a better job commemorating their war dead? They have war graves (The Commonwealth War Graves Commission), they cover all of that. They go into Europe and cover France, Belgium . . . it’s quite a big outfit. On one of our trips over there we went to the cemetery (Kensall Green All Souls’) to see my parents’ and there’s a site (immaculate) there with New Zealanders. You’ve got a fresh commemoration inked on your right forearm two months ago to illustrate your time at sea, don’t you? It’s a bottle of Pusser’s British Navy Rum, you had a tot every day at lunchtime. Sailor’s grave? I hope to be buried at sea. Ashes, over the top. I’m happy to be off the coast of New Zealand. A little bit will be saved and taken back to England. They’ll tip them off the Belfast, into the Thames. Like finding money down the back of the sofa. Show your dishes who’s Bosch. yellow square deals Emory 2 Seater Sofa & 3 Seater Sofa 9065545 / 9065547 Over 40% off Limited stock at this price Bosch Series 4 14 Place Setting Dishwasher SMS46GI01A 9040211 $999 130 ONLY — please call 0800 764 847 to check availability. Personal shoppers only. Trade not supplied. Limits and other exclusions may apply, ask in-store for details. Discount is off our full retail price. Not available in conjunction with any other offer.
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The Star: July 29, 2021

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