War Posting

War Posting Royal Mail Lines 1939 - 1946 Royal Mail Lines entered the Second World War in 1939 with a fleet of 34 vessels. By the close of hostilities 21 of those ships had been lost to enemy action and 1,550 personnel had laid down their lives. 1939 was also a momentous year for Gwilym D. Williams; it was the year in which he joined Royal Mail Lines as Third Officer. The ensuing years would see Gwilym facing action in many theatres of the War, from the North Atlantic convoys, being sunk by torpedo, experiencing personal tragedy, taking the war to North Africa, and the Italian landings, surviving huge explosions in Algiers and Bombay. Finally, following VE Day, bringing the survivors back from the Far East and the Mediterranean. Gwilym recounts his war years with a keen grasp of detail but as ever the serious and the tragic is combined with lighter moments, meetings with film stars and literary luminaries and amusing runs ashore; a fascinating insight into one man’s war posting.