Former Royal Marines Commando, John Eskdale (101), recalls the night HMS Charybdis was torn apart by German torpedoes during the Second World War.
Of the 533 men aboard, only 107 survived and John was one of them.
“When you’re being blitzed from all sides with dive bombers and torpedo bombers coming in. There’s nowhere to move," he said.
"You’re at the gun, there’s nowhere to run and at times you’re frightened,” he said.
John joined the military at 17, with a will to fight back after living through the Blitz and he signed up to the Navy as he was too young to be accepted into the RAF or the Army.
In 1942, John joined the crew of HMS Charybdis, serving in the Mediterranean as part of the Malta Convoys and later taking part in the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943.
In October of that year, Charybdis was torpedoed near the Channel Islands, where over 400 men lost their lives.
John was finishing a 24- hour watch and was about to head to bed when the ship was attacked.
“We went into action stations and I was on the gun just waiting for orders," John continued.
"Within 7 minutes of being hit, we were under and I lost all my gun crew.
"They were in the turret, and I was outside.”
John described the horrific experience of being in the water and the difficulty of using the Carley Floats.
"I'll never forget it," he said.
"Carley floats are made of cork and they've got netting, but they were death traps really as there were over 50 men trying to get in and they kept on turning it over.”
"The men were also unrecognisable as they were covered in thick diesel oil and the only way they could identify each other was by voice.
“The boys were shouting for their mother and there was nothing you could do.
"Someone would come up to you and you would try and hold him up for a while.
"Some said goodbye, others just let go. Not a very nice thing to have to remember."
As dawn broke, John and the remaining survivors clung to life in the cold water and had to watch a rescue ship turn away.
“That was one of the worst moments of my life,” he recalled.
“The thought that I might not be picked up suddenly hit me and the ship passed us twice before finally spotting the us on its third approach."
John was among the last to be rescued at around 6:30 am that morning and he considers himself very lucky to have survived.
Since the 1970's, John has travelled to Guernsey each year to attend a memorial for all those lost on HMS Charybdis and HMS Limbourne.
He is grateful to the Channel Islands and the islanders, who help bring the survivors together.
As an active part of the Royal Marines community, John regularly attends events and inspires the next generation. He described it as a big family.
“You can be in the street, just in ‘civvies’, with just the marine tie on, and somebody would say 'Hello, Royal' and you'd instantly know you’re talking to a fellow Marine," he said.
When asked if he would do it all again, John doesn’t hesitate and says that if the need arose he would still step forward to serve.
He also speaks fondly of those who support the Veterans' Foundation and play the Veterans' Lottery.
“Thank you very much for all you do, for all the veterans," he said
"They really do need it, so please carry on playing.”
The Veterans' Lottery is now the UK's largest single-cause lottery and is a key funding stream for the Foundation's grant programme.
If you'd like to be in with a chance to win up to £75,000 you can sign up to play the Veterans' Lottery today.
