John Henry Geary
John was born on the 10th April 1918 in Torridge Street, Bideford. In March 1940, shortly after he joined the Royal Navy he was posted to HMS Royal Arthur. This was not a ship, but was in fact a Butlins holiday camp in Skegness, taken on to train new recruits to the Royal Navy.
By the time he joined the Royal Navy, he lived in Halwill Cottage in Shebbear and worked as a baker at the Bakery, just a few yards from his home. Due to his civilian work, the Royal Navy enrolled him as a cook.
HMS Hecla
In December 1941, John was posted to serve on HMS Hecla, a 12,000 tonne Destroyer Depot Ship, with a ship’s compliment of 858. Undoubtedly, John was busy in his role, as the Hecla could bake up to 6,000ibs of bread a day to feed it’s crew and those of other ships.
Named after an Icelandic volcano, Hecla was posted to Havelfjord, Iceland to service escorts of Atlantic convoys. On 16th August 1941, John would have seen the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill visit Hecla at Iceland as can be seen in the image of this visit here.
During their work in Iceland, Hecla had ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) organised at least one concert party that included the well known actress, Evelyn Laye and perhaps the glamourous Gale Russell visited at this time too.
John was onboard Hecla in the summer of 1941 when it was on route to help defend Singapore from the Japanese, damaged by a mine off Capetown, it had to be towed to Simonstown for 18 weeks of repairs. Perhaps it was during this time that he developed a love for South Africa?
In December 1941, John was posted to serve on HMS Hecla, a 12,000 tonne Destroyer Depot Ship, with a ship’s compliment of 858. Undoubtedly, John was busy in his role, as the Hecla could bake up to 6,000ibs of bread a day to feed it’s crew and those of other ships.
Named after an Icelandic volcano, Hecla was posted to Havelfjord, Iceland to service escorts of Atlantic convoys. On 16th August 1941, John would have seen the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill visit Hecla at Iceland as can be seen in the image of this visit here.
During their work in Iceland, Hecla had ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) organised at least one concert party that included the well known actress, Evelyn Laye and perhaps the glamourous Gail Russell visited at this time too.
It’s possible that John was thrilled to have seen Winston Churchill, although perhaps not. Churchill was known to pay visits to ships before they ended up at the bottom of the sea, a kind of Jonah.
John was onboard Hecla in the summer of 1941 when it was on route to help defend Singapore from the Japanese, damaged by a mine off Capetown, it had to be towed to Simonstown for 18 weeks of repairs. Perhaps it was during this time that he developed a love for South Africa?
In November 1942, Hecla was assigned to support Operation Torch, in North Africa when around 180 miles from Gibraltar, on the 12th November, U-515 attacked with torpedoes. Four were launched, one went around in circles, one hit the engine room and exploded causing huge damage.
Another torpedo hit the compartment that John Geary was working, it failed to explode and this allowed him to evacuate and get on deck. After more torpedoes were sent to finish Hecla off, the call came to abandon ship. John found himself in the water on some wood with a friend. There were 568 survivors, John’s friend wasn’t amongst them. You can read more about Hecla here.
Within a couple of weeks, John was transported back to Devon and spent time at Dartmouth, HMS Raleigh and HMS Drake, despite the names, these are all shore establishments.
A full seven months after suffering the trauma of the sinking of HMS Hecla, John Geary was posted to another ship.
John spent time on a few different ships and was even posted to a couple of different naval facilities in the USA.
In January 1944 he joined HMS Chance, a 945 tonne minesweeper with a compliment of 104, and was with her until mid November 1944.
He told of being involved in the D-Day landings and was handed the unpleasant task of helping to clear the beaches once the troops had moved inland.
John was later posted to LST 386 and LST 409, unofficially, these big landing ships were known as Large Slow Targets by the ratings.
John Geary was demobbed on 5th April 1945.
Last updated on 7 May 2025 by Paul Watts