Veteran recalls explosion on his ship weeks after D-Day

A Royal Navy veteran has recalled being thrown from his ship after an explosion that killed 31 people just weeks after D-Day.

-  JORDAN REYNOLDS

Stan Ford, who turned 99 on 7 May, served on HMS Fratton, which escorted ships taking people back to the UK and was stationed off Selsey Bill on the south coast on D-Day.

Weeks later, Mr Ford, who is originally from Bristol, suffered lifelong injuries when the ship was sunk by what is believed to have been a midget submarine off the Normandy coast. Thirtyeight members of the crew were rescued but 31 were killed.

On 18 August at 5.30am or 6am, Mr Ford was on duty when he said there was a “terrific explosion”.

“The explosion detached the gun platform I was on and the gun platform and myself, we went over the side,” he said. “It was quite a – as you can imagine – heavy piece of metal. I came to in the water.”