Sub-Lieutenant, Andrew Byers WOOD
Aged 20
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Andrew Byers Wood was born in 1920. His birth registration has not been found, possibly born overseas. Son of Lt.Col Wyndham Madden Pierrepoint
and Dorothy Margaret WOOD (née BYERS). His father had been in the Indian Army for some time. In the 1939 register his parents were at Blackthorpe Nouse, Rougham. |
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As Sub-Lieutenant in April 1941 he had attained 2nd class in Seamanship, Navigation, Gunnery, Torpedoe and Signals.
H.M.S. Bideford was a Shoreham class sloop, launched in 1931. She spent much of her time in the Persian Gulf and Hong Kong, returning to UK on the outbeak of war. In May 1940 she took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. On her first evacuation trip, on the evening of 29 May, Bideford was hit by a German bomb, which set off one of Bideford's depth charges, badly damaging the ship, and killing 28. The aft 40 feet of the ship's stern was blown off, with Bideford having to be grounded to avoid sinking. The minesweeper Kellett took off the surviving troops from Bideford, but despite the damage to the sloop, other troops later boarded Bideford. The Dragonfly-class river gunboat Locust towed Bideford back to Dover, the journey taking 32 hours and ending on 31 May.
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