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Available for over a year

80 years ago in December 1942, 21-year-old Alfred Kirkham was serving on board the British ship HMS Quentin. He was working as a sick berth attendant and during his spare time wrote a makeshift diary in a prescription book detailing his experiences. On the morning of December 2 off the coast of North Africa Quentin was hit by German aircraft and sunk. Before it went down though Alfred managed to rescue a photo of his fiancée, his bible and the diary. Many years later he passed on his war time mementoes to his son Frank and for decades the diary was put away. It was only during lockdown that Frank finally had the time to read through all his dad’s words, transcribe them onto computer and retell his dad’s destroyer diaries.