Stanley Ford: Aboard HMS Fratton when a torpedo hit

Stanley Ford was manning a gun platform aboard HMS Fratton when it was torpedoed off the Normandy coast in August 1944.

The ship sunk in four minutes with the loss of 31 crew. Stan was rescued from the sea, his last memory before waking up in hospital.

Stan suffered a fractured spine and injuries to both legs. He still wears leg callipers today.

During the war, he took part in many convoys escorting merchant ships with vital supplies of food, including Operation Pedestal where aid was taken to the island of Malta which was strategically important to the war effort.

We Were There aims to collect as many first-hand accounts as possible by 2025, the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, to preserve veterans' accounts for future generations.

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