A merciful journey : recollections of a World War II patrol boat man

The story of a boy whose mother forbade him to join the air force, this volume presents a vivid and compelling account of Australian naval history from the firsthand perspective of Marsden Hordern. Through personal letters and journals, his triumphs and disasters as a naval officer and his rise from a young and callow sublieutenant to a lieutenant in command of his own ship are recounted. He recalls his hopes and fears, and, in the face of the horrors of war, reveals an appealing enthusiasm for new experiences and a growing love of the sea. From the Australian coast to Timor to Japan, these memories comprise both a coming-of-age tale and a history of an often overlooked maritime force. "In 1939 Marsden Hordern's mother refused to sign the paper allowing her seventeen-year-old son to fight overseas with the Royal Australian Air Force. 'I did not rear you to be killed in an airplane, ' she said. 'Join the navy.' He took her advice and in doing so determined his future. In small patrol boats, Fairmiles and a Harbour Defence Motor Launch, he patrolled the shores of Japanese-held territory, assisted beleaguered commandos in Timor, and was finally caught up in the drama of rounding up Japanese prisoners of war and guarding them in New Guinea." A memoir of a young man's coming of age in wartime. This work presents an account of his childhood growing up in Sydney through his years serving in the Royal Australian Navy from 1942 to 1947. It details his rise from a callow sublieutenant to a lieutenant in command of his own ship, as he patrolled the shores of Japanese-held territory.