Memorial over Navy training ordeal

A memorial stone commemorating young men who underwent tough Navy training has been unveiled.

The stone is laid at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, near Lichfield in remembrance of the 15-year-olds who went through boys’ service on the HMS Bruce.

Oldbury veteran Dennis Heath launched an appeal back in August to raise £2,000 for the memorial and was backed by donors such as his former employer Shell, as well as members of the The HMS Bruce Association.Mr Heath, aged 72, was one of the hundreds of teenagers to undergo the training, in which 15-year-olds underwent rigorous and sometimes brutal training to fight for their country.

“Some of the treatment we had as boys on HMS Bruce was later described as war crimes,” said the Westmead Drive resident. “It was tough. The first thing we did whether rain, hail, sleet or snow was go over the 143ft mast in bare feet in our pyjamas.”

At 8.30am they would start what were known as instructions - this would be training such as seamanship, signals, arms drills or swimming.

The boys would get a ten minute break in the morning and afternoon, dinner was at noon and tea was at 4pm.

At 4.45pm there was a ritual called “men under punishment”.“If some of the boys had broken rules of whatever kind you would be punished,” added Dennis, a father of six who has been married to Pauline for 55 years.

“One was that you would have to wear an oilskin coat back to front and you would also carry a falling shell which weighed about 40 pounds and wear a full field kit, run round the perimeter of the playing field until you were told to stop.

“On one occasion I know of one individual that collapsed. The instructor walked over to him, kicked him in the ribs and told him to get up. He didn’t, he died under punishment.”

At the 15 minute ceremony on Saturday, Maynard Scott from the Arboretum gave a dedication and the stone was unveiled by Commander Bryan Smalley, president of The HMS Bruce Association. HMS Bruce, based in Fife, Scotland, was opened in February 1947 and closed in September 1950.