John Eskdale, who is 102 and lives in the Forest of Dean, is the only remaining shipmate from HMS Charybdis. The cruiser was sunk by German torpedoes in the English Channel in October 1943. He still remembers the night clearly, and he wants new generations to remember it too.
A night in the Channel
John was 19 when he went to sea aboard HMS Charybdis on 22 October 1943. In the early hours of the next day, in dark and freezing conditions, two torpedoes hit the ship. He was thrown to the deck, and a heavy shell landed on his leg. A shipmate behind him was washed overboard.
John spent four hours in the water, holding on to debris and a lifeboat, before a passing naval destroyer rescued him. Nearly 500 men died and just over 100 survived. Everyone was covered in oil, and in the dark men could only be recognised by their voices.
Wartime service
John had already been through the Blitz. At 16 he worked as a runner for the Auxiliary Fire Service in Bristol, and later he served in the Home Guard when Bath was bombed. After the Charybdis, he joined the Royal Marines and was sent on a parachute jump without any training.
He then joined Ian Fleming’s commando unit, known as 30 Assault Unit, where he served as a driver. After the war he worked as a driver for the British Embassy in Tokyo and for the war crimes tribunal. He also escorted photographers through Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Remembering 1943
For decades John has attended an annual service to remember those lost in the sinking. He says that remembering what happened matters as much today as it ever did, and that young people should know about it.
