Jack Sutton: Off to war at 16 by Sid Tarrant

When Jack Sutton was 86, the Cambridge native recalled his days in 1934 as a 16-year-old who wanted to join the supplementary reserve of the Royal Army Service Corp in Bolton, Lancashire, England and his subsequent meeting with a Sergeant Bland. “Sorry Jack,” he advised, “but you have to be 17 years of age to join the Corp.” To which Jack replied, “Yes, sir! That is what I said. I’m 17.” “That’s what I thought you said,” said the sergeant. “Sign here.” With that Jack was on board and as a marine engineer by profession he went on to serve on many tankers that would eventually be supplying the Allies with much-needed fuel during the coming war years.
Jack’s first ship was the Hornshell out of Heburn on Tyne in Newcastle, England. He was off to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, in the British West Indies and then on to French West Africa in Senegal. However, it was during the Spanish Civil War (1937-39) when they entered the hostile Spanish coast and were met by a Spanish war ship, the Jamie II, and ordered to leave the waters immediately. From Dakar they sailed back to Curacao in the Dutch West Indies.

Later, while on leave in England in 1939, Jack was transferred to a ship called the Patella that was bound for Trinidad in the West Indies. During this voyage on Sept 3, it was announced that war had been declared by Britain on Germany. Only halfway to their destination across the Atlantic they were forced to take evasive action from German U-boats. It was at this period in time that due to the impending war that the Royal Navy laid claim to some of the oil tankers to transport fuel to the warships and planes.

In November 1939, while down the River Plate in Argentina, Jack witnessed his first of what would be many enemy action events. The German ship the Graf Spee was fired upon by three British cruisers: the Exeter, the Ajax and the Achilles. The German Captain Langsdorff, anticipating the demise of his ship and crew, berthed his ship at Montevideo and ordered all married men ashore then proceeded to sail it down river with a skeleton crew and initiated a self-destructive process of scuttling the ship.

In the following war years (1940-45) Jack sailed on more than 10 supply ships and although he recalls that at times the routine became repetitive and monotonous, it also became very hazardous and nerve-racking carrying these potential fuel time bombs (10,000 tons of gasoline). On one such Atlantic crossing there was an incident that to this day still haunts him and at times creates nightmares. The incident involved his participation with a convoy of more than 100 ships when a German U-boat torpedoes 17 of them. One of the ships that was hit was next to his. The ship exploded in a white hot inferno engulfing the ship’s crew. Only 14 men were saved from that ship and they had severe burns. It was a grotesque sight that has lived with Jack from that day. It was only at that time that he experienced real fear, realizing that they were also carrying high-octane gasoline and that they could be the next torpedo target.

For service to his country, Jack was decorated with the following campaign service medals: The 1939-43 Star, The 1939-45 Star, The North Africa Star, The Italian Star, The Battle of the Atlantic Star, and The War Medal.

Sid Tarrant is the former public relations officer for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 121 in Galt, Ontario and wrote regular columns for the Cambridge Reporter until they closed.

Originally published in The Cambridge Wartime Scrapbook