Royal Navy veteran shares tales of seafaring career as he celebrates turning 100
A Royal Navy veteran has celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by serving and former Naval personnel.
Captain (Retired) Laurence WH Taylor celebrated his centenary with a surprise visit from HMNB Devonport's Captain of the Base, Captain David Preece RN, along with members of the Plymouth branch of the Royal Naval Association (RNA).
The RNA is the biggest collective group of Royal Navy veterans and serving personnel, with more than 270 branches in the UK and overseas.
Capt (Ret'd) Taylor was delighted to meet his visitors and happy to entertain them with tales of his long and distinguished service career, which began in 1940 when he attended Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth.
Joining as a Seaman Officer, Capt (Ret'd) Taylor served throughout the Second World War on several major ships including HMS Sussex, where he was injured during a bombing of the ship in Glasgow, HMS Nelson, HMS Duncan and HMS Savage, which was involved in the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst and the Battle of North Cape.
Following two remarkable years on HMS Savage, he joined HMS Start Bay at the end of the war, serving in the Mediterranean, before leaving her in Gibraltar and taking up a position in Haifa as the Royal Navy Operations Officer.
Service in HMS Fernie and HMS Bigbury Bay followed before returning to Greenwich in 1950 for the Naval Staff course.
After marrying Margaret in 1951, Capt (Ret'd) Taylor was promoted to lieutenant commander and posted to HMS Tamar in Hong Kong as the Staff Officer Plans to the Commodore of Hong Kong.
Margaret joined him there and they spent time living in quarters on the 'Peak'. Their first daughter was born in Hong Kong.
Capt (Ret'd) Taylor became responsible for the patrols of small warships to prevent illegal immigrants from China and witnessed great celebrations for the Queen's Coronation in 1953.
He travelled home from Hong Kong on the Empire Windrush to join his wife and, when back in the UK, joined HMS Decoy as the First Lieutenant based at Devonport at which point he and his wife welcomed a second daughter into their family.
In 1956, Capt (Ret'd) Taylor attended the Joint Services Staff course, before he became Staff Operations Officer to Flag Officer Aircraft Carriers.
In December 1956, the family of four became a family of five when their third child, a son, was born.
Several staff jobs followed before, in 1966, he was promoted to captain and set off to become the Naval Attaché in Moscow, which also involved looking after Finland as well.
In 1968, Capt (Ret'd) Taylor served as the Naval Liaison Officer in Canberra, Australia, for two years, before his final appointment with the Royal Navy as the Queen's Harbour Master (QHM) at Chatham in Kent.
Following the QHM job in Chatham he became Director of Marine Services in 1974, where he served for eight years, finishing on his 60th birthday.
Capt (Ret'd) Taylor was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1982 New Year's Honours. He lived in Winkleigh, in Devon, from 1984 and was churchwarden from 1987 to 1996, serving also as vice chair of the Royal British Legion and then the president.
He and his wife Margaret, who died in 2015, have three children, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
One of the veteran's guests, Captain David Preece, HMNB Devonport's Captain of the Base, said: "I was absolutely delighted to be able to wish Captain Taylor a happy birthday on such a landmark day.
"As well as congratulating him on behalf of the Royal Navy and Royal Naval Association, it was also a real privilege to have an insight into his very clear and fond memories of an amazing career.
"I hope that our presence was a reminder to him and his family that they are still a part of the naval family no matter how long since retiring," he added.
Des McCarthy, Chairman of the Royal Naval Association in Plymouth, had some exciting news to share with Capt (Ret'd) Taylor during the birthday visit.
He said: "Plymouth members of the Royal Naval Association were honoured to attend the 100th birthday celebration of Second World War veteran Captain LWH Taylor CBE RN and award him with Life Membership to mark the high degree of respect and esteem we hold for our wartime warriors and their generation."
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