We boarded the Queen Mary that July evening in great awe, I had never seen anything so magnificent in all my life, even in wartime the opulence of the pre-war era shone through, our accommodation was actually in the projection room of the cinema and there were twenty of us ratings sleeping in there. I was told by one of the crew that there were 19,000 on the ship and most of these were walking wounded American and Canadian troops from the invasion forces going home. I was assigned to be a K.P which meant Kitchen Party. It was a simple job that entailed giving out the food to about six tables in the main dining hall and cleaning away afterwards.
The main dining hall was a lavish affair- you would scarcely believe you were on a ship, and the food itself, well after nearly five years of war, I thought it was heaven. Things like bananas and oranges and peaches which were impossible to get at home were served regularly.
We had been aboard a couple of days and we were still anchored on the Clyde and I wondered what the delay was, however still in keeping with the best traditions of the silent service, nobody knew- not even the regular crew. I spent my spare time looking all over the ship, there was a shopping centre but it was fairly restricted to wartime needs and long corridors (or passageways in naval terms) which again gave the impression that you weren't afloat, looking down from the top of the engine room was like looking into a large power station. I was told that a double-decker bus would fit easily into one of the funnels and I quite believe it.
One morning, it was announced that all shore leave was stopped and we knew we were ready for off. We had to wait for the final party to come aboard, as we watched them come aboard a cheer broke out on deck and amongst some familiar faces of war leaders and V.I.P's was the familiar figure of Winston Churchill - our new shipmate.
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