PETER WARDLAW DAVIES
Throughout the time that this association has been in existence, we have fielded many inquiries about our own ship, and also many relating to the cruiser of World War 2. We are more than happy to do this, as we believe this goes with the territory of running an HMS Manchester Association and we do have a great deal of the information readily at hand, and if not, we know where to find it! It must also be appreciated that all the cruiser boys are now in their late 80's plus. We also believe it projects 2MA in a way that we, and we hope you, would wish.
It just so happens that we duly received an enquiry from Anthony Bergelin from far away Dandenong, Victoria, Australia, who was researching his grandfather Peter Wardlaw Davies, who he believed was on board the cruiser during World War 2, and wished to know if he was on board at the actual time of the sinking? Anthony never met his grandfather, although he did have a somewhat smudged copy of part of his Service Certificate which he forwarded to us. Could we enlighten him? This enquiry arrived at a particularly awkward time, as it coincided with the England cricket team getting a sound drubbing at the hands and bats of the Aussies, but undeterred we cracked on, and our research revealed / confirmed the following:
Peter Wardlaw Davies (PWD) was born in Chile on the 22nd November 1918, and he joined the Royal Australian Navy Volunteer Reserve at HMAS Rushcutter in New South Wales on the 20th May 1941. His engagement was for 3˝ years. Four months later he was on his way to the UK on the SS Ceramic - a former White Star Liner that made several UK - Australia voyages during the war, until she was sunk off the Azores with the sole survivor being rescued 24 hours later by the torpedo firing U-Boat. After 4 months training at Collingwood and Victory (now HMS Nelson) he joined MANCHESTER in April 1942. We were able to confirm that he was indeed on board at the time of the sinking, and was one of those rescued by a destroyer (Pathfinder, Eskimo or Somali) and taken to Gibraltar - as was William Folkard. Returning to the UK, PWD commenced basic officer training on the 18th December 1942 at HMS King Alfred - then at Hove - which was completed by the 3rd January 1943! His professional training at HMS Pembroke at Chatham took a further ten weeks.
PWD then joined HMS Sheffield, which took part in Operation Husky (July-August 1943), the invasion of Sicily and the start of the Allied invasion of Italy, and the Battle of North Cape, and the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst (December 1943). In July 1944, Sheffield sailed to Boston, Massachusetts for an 11 month refit, and by the 13th September of that year, Lt PWD was back in HMAS Penguin in Sydney - 3 years and 4 months into his 3˝ year engagement! (Nice one, Drafty!) What route he took home from Boston is unknown, but the shortest distance would have been westward across the United States and ditto the Pacific, so it is not inconceivable that he also cracked a 'global' (that word will brighten someone's day!). PWD was subsequently discharged from the RAN in April 1946, although he did re-join for 18 months in 1952. Sadly, it is quite evident that PWD's war service was having a serious impact on his health, and he died in January 1960. He was just 42 years old.
