Leonard Joynes's diaries detail his years in the Navy in the second world war.
Diaries detailing a late seaman’s experiences during the second world war have been unearthed.
Leonard Joynes, from Newark and latterly Balderton, kept many diaries detailing his early life and childhood, and his years in Australia and Hong Kong, in the Navy towards the end of the war.
After he died, aged 93, his daughter, Elizabeth Burton, found the diaries while sorting through his possessions.
“My father started writing his life story in 2000, but it wasn’t until he went into a home at the age of 90 that I started sorting out his house and there were a lot of records of his life in the Navy, and I collected them to share with the family,” she said.
“He lived an amazing life. He only had a short time in the Navy but it had the most effect on him. He was a father you could be proud of. He didn’t fear anything.”
Mr Joynes married Joan in 1951 and the couple were involved with the Newark Labour Party for many years.
The couple settled in Acacia Avenue in Balderton, where they lived for nearly 60 years.
In his diaries, Mr Joynes, who was a telegrapher, describes HMS Woodcock setting sail for Australia, stopping off at Gibraltar and sailing through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea, where he saw porpoises and flying fish in the sea.
He said the sea was so rough in the Bay of Biscay that he couldn’t eat his Christmas lunch.
Mr Joynes described how he saw the fleet arriving at Manus Island in Papua New Guinea: “Battleships first, followed by aircraft carriers then cruisers, destroyers, supply ships, frigates, sloops, minesweepers, oil tankers, etc. It was a very impressive sight. One that I shall never forget. It was the largest gathering of ships ever.”
Once at Japan, the fleet was ordered to bombard the Yakashima Gunto, and the HMS Woodcock was part of the escorts to keep the battle fleet in position.
Mr Joynes recalled: “We spent 68 days at sea without seeing land, and the atmosphere on board was awful. We couldn’t speak to one another in a civil manner.”
The crew of HMS Woodcock witnessed the surrender ceremony in Yokohama, as Mr Joynes described in his diary, and witnessed the harrowing sight of the prisoners of war being released on board the aircraft carrier HMS Speaker.
He wrote: “The Japanese announced their surrender on Wednesday 15 August, and we were ordered to Tokyo Bay. We entered Tokyo Bay on Friday August 31 1945, and witnessed the signing of the surrender on board the American battleship Missouri. We were anchored just astern, and was able to see the ceremony very clearly.
“While in Tokyo Bay, the first prisoners of war were released on board. The flight deck was packed with servicemen who had beards and hair down to their chests and were dressed in rags. All very thin and emaciated.”
HMS Woodcock arrived in Hong Kong on September 17 to another harrowing sight.
“We found that it [Hong Kong] was in a terrible state of hunger and starvation, and bodies lying in the streets. We also discovered that Hong Kong was nothing but an island of vice of the worst possible kind,” he wrote.
The ship continued around the world, before arriving in Kure, Japan on March 30, 1946.
“Whilst at Kure we were able to go aboard the Menestheus, which was an amenities ship, which brewed its own beer and put on a very good stage show,” wrote Mr Joynes.
“Still at Kure, most of the crew went by train to Hiroshima for the day. It was a very moving experience.”
HMS Woodcock finally arrived back in the UK on Tuesday, July 16, at Harwich, and Mr Joynes received his demob suit at Wembley Stadium.
