Peter Jackson – Royal Marines
Peter Jackson 1916 – 1977
Royal Marines 1935/1948
Peter Alister George Jackson was born in Walsingham, Norfolk. By 1922, his parents had moved to High Street, Pembridge, than later to Almo’s cottage, now Walnut,West Street, Pembridge.
After attending Leominster Grammar School, during which time he was in the choir at St Mary The Virgin Church, Pembridge, he worked as a farm labourer possibly at Leen Farm (see below).
Peter Jackson, front row, second from left.
After a few years working as a farm labourer, Peter, together with his brother Vernon, wanted to join another older brother who had emigrated to British Columbia. Their desire was to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But travel costs thwarted this ambition.
In December,1935, with a reference from William Smith (owner of Leen Farm), Peter and his brother Vernon enlisted in The Royal Marines.
For the first part of the 20th century, the Royal Marines' role was the traditional one of providing shipboard infantry for security, boarding parties and small-scale landings. The Marines' other traditional position on a Royal Navy ship was manning the aftermost gun turrets on a battleship or cruiser. Also, while not actively engaged in warfare, they had additional duties to do with the running of the ship.
19th November –14th July 1936 Depot Royal Marines Deal
15th July 1936 – 9th December 1937 Chatham Division
(Rodney Jackson Collection)
10th December 1936 – 1st February 1937 Plymouth Division
Peter Jackson on left: photo taken on 30th January 1937 (Rodney Jackson Collection)
2nd February 1937 - 10th June 1938 HMS Galatea
HMS Galatea was an Arethusa-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy.
Based in Malta, upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War she was active in joint patrols enforcing the non-intervention policy, periodically in co-operation with German and Italian destroyers.
Peter Jackson on right, Malta 1937 (Rodney Jackson Collection)
Later deployed in Alexandria, she remained on alert in response to the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. In the spring and summer of 1938 on refit in Devonport, she was recommissioned for the Mediterranean, deployed at Malta and Alexandria.
HMS Galatea’s ship’s cat (Rodney Jackson Collection)
11th June 1938 –28th August 1938 Plymouth Division
(Rodney Jackson Collection)
Peter Jackson on far left (Rodney Jackson Collection)
29th August 1938 – 2nd February 1939 HMS Hermes
HMS Hermes 1931 (Wikipedia)
HMS Hermes was a British aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy and was the world's first ship to be designed as an aircraft carrier.
3rd February 1939 – 25th November 1939 Plymouth Division
It was here that Peter Jackson undertook the additional training that Royal Marines had to specialise in to do with the running of a ship. His training was that of a butcher.
26th November 1939 – 16th May 1942 HMS Valiant
HMS Valian (Rodney Jackson Collection)
HMS Valiant was one of five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built for the Royal Navy during the early 1910s. She participated in the Battle of Jutland during the First World War as part of the Grand Fleet.
On 30th November 1939 Valiant was commissioned at Devonport and assigned to the America and West Indies Station. Returning to Britain in December 1939, she escorted Canadian troops across the Atlantic and joined Home Fleet on 7th January 1940. Valiant engaged in escort duty for troop transports and in May1940 supported the British landing forces in the Norwegian campaign. While there, the battleship narrowly escaped a torpedo fired by U 38.
Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria
With the surrender of France on 22nd June 1940, the bulk of the French fleet lay at Mers-el-Kébir. Since British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was very worried that the French ships might fall into the hands of the Germans and did not believe the Vichy Government's assurances that it would prevent the Germans from seizing the ships, he intended to give the French an ultimatum. On Wednesday, 3rd July 1940, Force H under the command of Vice Admiral James Fownes Somerville consisting of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the battlecruiser Hood, the battleships Valiant, Resolution, and Nelson, and other cruisers and destroyers appeared off the harbor entrance. Somerville radioed Admiral Marcel Gensoul to inform him of the British demands. After the ultimatum expired, the Valiant opened fire along with the Hood and Resolution. The Dunkerque, the Provence and the Bretagne were hit and heavily damaged, the latter exploded and sank.
Bretagne on fire and under bombardment (Wikipedia)
After Somerville had ceased fire to give Gensoul another chance, he overlooked that the Strasbourg together with the five remaining destroyers had escaped into the open sea behind the thick smoke of the explosions.
The French battleship Strasbourg under fire (Wikipedia)
The Strasbourg, along with the destroyers Volta, Tigre and Le Terrible, reached Toulon on the evening of 4th July. In September, Valiant joined the carrier HMS Illustrious with the squadron at Alexandria.
Peter Jackson (right): photo taken during his time serving on HMS Valiant (Rodney Jackson Collection)
For the remainder of the year, Valiant sailed security duties in the Mediterranean, primarily on fleet advances. On the night of 18th–19th December, together with the Warspite, she shelled the Albanian port of Valona.
Cape Matapan
The Battle of Cape Matapan was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy from 27th to 29th March 1941. Cape Matapan is on the south-western coast of the Peloponnesian Peninsula of Greece.
With the help of an intercepted Luftwaffe radio message decoded by ULTRA, Admiral Cunningham learned that the Italians, under the command of Vice-Admiral Angelo Iachino, intended to attack the British fleet to distract them from German troops which were being transported to North Africa. After the Italians sortied in a convoy of 22 ships, including the battleship Vittorio Veneto, on 26 March Cunningham brought all the ships into position, including the Barham.
On 28th March, British cruisers encountered the Italian fleet but were forced to retreat by the Vittorio Veneto. Cunningham then ordered an air attack. Multiple air strikes by Formidable's Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers damaged the Vittorio Veneto and crippled the heavy cruiser Pola.
A Fairey Fulmar flies above British warships in the Ionian Sea at the Battle of Cape Matapan (Wkipedia)
The Vittorio Veneto escaped westwards as darkness fell.
In the foreground, firing a broadside, is HMS Valiant (Wikipedia)
Later that evening. Admiral Iachino ordered the two other heavy cruisers of the 1st Division to render assistance to Pola in the darkness. The Italian ships and the British arrived almost simultaneously at Pola's location, but the Italians had almost no clue that the British were nearby. On the other hand, the British knew exactly where the Italians were, thanks to their radar-equipped ships. They opened fire at point-blank range and sank the Zara and Fiume. During the battle, Midshipman Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh had been assigned to Valiant and controlled the battleship's searchlights.
Battle of Crete
On 22nd/23rd May 1941, Valiant operated off Crete, and was struck by two bombs.
24th November 1941 Central Mediterranean
On the afternoon of 24 November 1941, the 1st Battle Squadron, Barham, Queen Elizabeth, and Valiant, with an escort of eight destroyers, departed Alexandria to cover the 7th and 15th Cruiser Squadrons as they hunted for Italian convoys in the Central Mediterranean. The following morning, the German submarine U-331 detected the faint engine noises of the British ships and moved to intercept. HMS Queen Elizabeth, had passed U-331 by and the second ship, Barham, was closing rapidly. All four bow torpedo tubes of U-331 were fired at a range of 375 metres. There was no time for evasive action, and three of the four torpedoes struck amidships so closely together as to throw up a single massive water column. Barham quickly capsized to port and was lying on her side when a massive magazine explosion occurred about four minutes after she was torpedoed and sank her.
The sinking was captured on film by a cameraman from Pathé News, aboard Valiant.
HMS Barham explodes photo taken from HMS Valiant (Wikipedia)
Mining at Alexandria
On 19th December 1941, Valiant was seriously damaged by limpet mines placed by Italian frogmen of Decima Flottiglia MAS, who entered Alexandria harbor riding two-man "human torpedoes" ("maiali"). Her sister ship Queen Elizabeth was also damaged.
Lieutenant Durand de la Penne placed the mines on Valiant. The other two teams attached their mines and escaped, but de la Penne's “maiali” broke down. De la Penne pushed the maiali under Valiant and left it on the bottom. Then he and his companion Corporal Emilio Bianchi emerged and were captured. They were interrogated by Captain Charles Morgan but told him nothing. A few minutes before the mines were scheduled to detonate, when it was too late to find and deactivate them, he informed Morgan of their existence (but not their location) to allow the crew on board to evacuate. De La Penne and Bianchi were kept in the locked compartment which was (unbeknownst to them or Morgan) just above where the mine would explode. Both were injured by the explosion but survived. The mine attached to Valiant was not actually in contact with her hull, so the damage was far less severe than to Queen Elizabeth. Despite having a heavy trim forward, her decks were above water, and she remained clear of the harbour bottom. Although nearly immobilised, she was able, although only for a few days, to give the impression of full battle readiness, at least until she could be repaired. Valiant was repaired in Durban, South Africa.
16th May 1942- 2nd November 1942 Plymouth Division
3rd November 1942 – 12th June 1944 HMS Carlisle
HMS Carlisle, 1942 (Rodney Jackson Collection)
HMS Carlisle was laid down by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in 1917 and launched on 9 July 1918. Carlisle was commissioned too late to see action in the First World War.
From December 1941 to July 1943, Carlisle was involved in convoy duties between Alexandria and Malta.
In July 1943, she escorted the support force for the Allied invasion of Sicily. In September–October, during the German counter-attack in the Aegean Sea, Carlisle made a sortie into the area south of Piraeus with the destroyers HMS Panther and HMS Rockwood intercepting German convoys in the Scarpanto Strait.
On 9 October 1943, they were spotted by German Ju 87 dive bombers from the Megara air base which succeeded in sinking Panther at 12.05 and later on seriously damaging Carlisle, killing 24 members of the ship's company.
The names and ranks of the 24 Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel killed are recorded at Barracks Chapel, Royal Marine Barracks, Stonehouse, Plymouth (Wikipedia)
Peter Jackson was wounded by projectiles in this attack.
HMS Carlisle was taken in tow to Alexandria by Rockwood.
13th June 1944-11th August 1944 HMS Nile
HMS Nile was a shore base outside Alexandria. It was here that he was to receive skin grafts on his legs.
Peter Jackson recuperating at HMS Nile, Alexandria (Rodney Jackson Collection)
Peter Jackson third on left (Rodney Jackson Collection)
12th August 1944 - 17th September 1945 HMS Grebe
HMS Grebe was the Royal Navy designation for the prewar Alexandria airport, known as Dekheila during its use in World War II as a shore base for aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm.
Peter Jackson second on left (Rodney Jackson Collection)
18th September 1945 -14th January 1948 Plymouth Division
Peter Jackson on left (Rodney Jackson Collection)
18th January 1948 – 1st April 1948 Chatham Division
On 1st April 1948, Peter Jackson’s career in the Royal Marines came to an end. He was declared “physically unfit for loyal Marine service”. He was recommended for the Royal Fleet Reserve subject to medical fitness.
After the war, Peter Jackson trained as a certified accountant in Birmingham. He worked for The Ministry of Food at Shobdon Airfield, at Powell & Co, accountants in Kington, The Kington Receiving Laundry as a wages clerk and he also used his skills as a butcher in outside catering.
He died at the age of 61 in 1977.
Rory MacColl
