TRIBUTE TO SAM WOOD D.S.M

MAURICE HAIGH
1st JUNE 2005

Readers of the Pontefract & Castleford Express, Thursday 26th May 2005, will no doubt be saddened to read of the death of Sam Wood who served on the battleship H.M.S Prince of Wales, which was involved in a battle with the German Battleship, 'The Bismark'. His personal recollections of this battle were reproduced in the September and October 2004 issues of The Digest and also feature on this website.

I had never met Sam but had, through his story, spoken to him on the telephone and found him to be a very likable man, who, although he had left his native Knottingley to enlist in The Royal Navy before the war, still remembered the town with great affection and over the years paid regular visits keeping in touch with his relatives.

Sam was employed at the local glassworks of Bagley & Co. Ltd., and I understand from his brother Dick, that he had told him he was at work with another five workmates, when out of the blue they all decided to enlist in the Royal Navy and arranged to meet at the enrolment office in Leeds. When Sam arrived he discovered he was the only one of them to arrive and subsequently he enlisted by himself in 1937.

After completing his training as a Sick Berth Attendant he was posted to The Isle of Man, where he later met his wife Dorothea, They had one daughter Lorraine. It was from here that he received his posting to join H.M.S  Prince of Wales where upon he was promoted to Chief Petty Officer. It was during the battle when the Prince of Wales was damaged by being hit with seven shells fired from the 'Bismark' that he received injuries which required him to be transferred to a land based hospital for treatment of his wounds. After treatment he stayed on in The Royal Navy until he was invalided out in 1945 and he never served on active duty again.

On his release from service he moved back to join his wife on the Isle of Man and it was here with his wife Dorothea that they opened a boarding house for summer visitors which they ran for many years. He also drove a small coach offering guests conducted tours of the Island. They later moved to Manchester where he accepted the agency for a company which manufactured industrial pumps, his duties were to travel and maintain them throughout the country. He stayed with the company until his retirement when he made his final move to Macclesfield, Cheshire.

Maurice Haigh
June 2005

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