BOMBED with the loss of his ship three times, brave sailor Jack Wright has shared his wartime memories in a new book.
Retired Stonehouse school caretaker Mr Wright, 90, joined the Royal Navy at 16 in 1935.
World War II saw him leave the Senior Service as a man a horrific 14 years later.
Great-grandfather Mr Wright, who is Stroud born and bred, has titled his historic tale The Memories of An Outdoor Man.
replica balenciaga handbagsIt tells of the wartime action he saw, including on the destroyer HMS Montrose off the east coast of Britain before enemy bombers put the ship out of action.
Mr Wright was then moved on to the ill-fated battleship HMS Prince of Wales before it was sunk by land-based Japanese bombers in the South China Sea in 1941.
"I was in the water for about two hours with only a lifebelt," said Mr Wright.
The navy then transferred him to the heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire only a few short weeks before she too was hit by Imperial Japanese Navy dive-bombers and disappeared beneath the waves.
Mr Wright, who lost 227 shipmates in the disaster in April 1942, said: "I was in the water for 36 hours that time with nothing to drink or eat. It was an age when you fought for your country and didn't question it."
paper bag printingA keen member of the Royal Naval Association since he's been in Civvy Street, Mr Wright grew up in Ebley. He remembers Victory Park in Cainscross being named after the end of World War I. He left school at 14 and went to work in sawmills in Ebley before enlisting in the navy.
Along the way, Mr Wright met and married his wife Peggy, a local girl. They were married for 68 years before her death 18 months ago.
The couple had two sons and Mr Wright worked for 35 years as caretaker at first Stonehouse primary and then its successor, the secondary school, until he pandora beads retired.
The Memories of An Outdoor Man will be available shortly from Stroud Tourist Information Centre in the Subscription Rooms and Stroud Bookshop in the High Street.
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