My father was ordered over the side of an LCA or LCM (landing craft armoured, or mechanized) by Commander Koyl in order to free it from a sandbar.
Over the side he went. He helped free it.
My father didn’t get back aboard before Koyl raced off to participate in a training exercise. Dad later wrote, “I didn't really know what went amiss but the fact that the landing had to be made on time was uppermost in Koyl's mind.”
["...the landing had to be made on time...": photo GH]
Koyl was likely anxious to get moving. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was on hand to witness the landing.
Very early the next morning
My father, Koyl and Bailey (another cold, wet sailor, one who had made it back into the boat before it sped off) stumbled into a local pub in Irvine.
["Diamond Lil, LCM, 1941. Don't fall out!"]
They were warmed with rum, hot porridge and dry clothes by members of the Skinner family. “All of this help came from ladies,” wrote my father. He thought the name of the pub had been changed to Harbour Lights.
2010
I write to Harbour Lights three times. Father died seven years before, but I feel a thank you is in order to any surviving members of the Skinner family
No replies.
Last week
I find a news article online. ‘King’s Arms family snap up the Harbour Lights.’ King’s Arms pub was not renamed Harbour Lights as I had been led to believe.
I write to the King’s Arms:
You may find this a confusing email from Canada but any help you can give me will be appreciated.
Was the King's Arms known by another name in the 1940s?
I ask because of a short story left behind by my father concerning a mishap during World War 2 off your coast. After dislodging his landing craft from a sandbar, being left behind and alone in the sea, and later rescued (hours after the craft's training exercise) by his commander, my father was taken to a Irvine pub.
He writes, "...to a local pub (now known as the Harbour Lights)... the Royal Sovereign, the King George? Help came from a few ladies (in the form of dry clothes, hot porridge and rum)."
I believe someone else supplied the poor quality picture of the King's Arms Hotel that accompanies my father's story, which confuses the matter re name of hotel, and adds that members of the Skinner family revived my father.
Do you know if any members of the Skinner family remain in the local area? A big thank you is in order. I suppose most involved with the story would be in their 80s or 90s, or gone, but any information you could provide would be very helpful. Sincerely, Gord Harrison
Within the hour I receive a reply.
Stay tuned.
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Please click here to read PT 2 - A door opens at the King’s Arms Hotel
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