Derek Law Bibliography

Full entry text:

UPTON, Bernard. On the Road to Normandy and a Little Beyond: A Sailor’s Life Story. xiv, 142p., illus., index. [n.p.], author, 2017. ISBN: 9781527213081.

An autobiography. Born in 1919, he volunteered in 1939 and trained as a signalman. After brief convoy service he trained at King Alfred and was commissioned in 1941. In February 1942 he joined the minesweeper Cromarty and slowly sailed via the Cape, convoy duty and the Madagascar assault to join the fleet at Alexandria that October. After a year of active duty Cromarty was sunk by a mine in October 1943 near Sardinia. He saw out the war in a succession of minesweepers, including action off the Normandy invasion coast, slowly rising in rank. He continued sailing until the age of 94 and died in 2016. The book can almost be described as a scrapbook, full of photographs, documents and recollections. The first half of the book is autobiographical, with the second half assembled from information supplied by family and friends.