#12 Battle of Leros

Partial record of my Granfathers’s service in the Royal Navy.

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After Camper Van Beethoven broke up, I found myself in the United Kingdom with a return flight to Washington, D.C. that wasn’t scheduled for another month. I had always intended to visit my grandfather in Westgate-on-Sea—a village adjacent to Margate (see: #1 Frozen Sea)—for a few days, but now I suddenly had several weeks at my disposal. In many ways, this turned out to be the best therapy imaginable.

My grandfather was a relentlessly positive survivor of various Second World War naval campaigns, as well as a seasoned merchant seaman. He had travelled all over the world and, to put it mildly, had seen a great deal. The point of the song is this: here I am, a young man facing a personal crisis—having essentially lost my job and my identity as the singer of a well-known indie band. It felt like the end of the world to me, but in reality, my problems were quite trivial compared to what people two generations before—like my grandfather—had to endure.

It’s remarkable, really, that despite periods when things may seem to worsen for new generations, on the whole and over the long term (at least here in the liberal democracies), one’s grandchildren are generally better off than oneself. As a young man, my troubles were insignificant compared to what my grandfather had faced, which included fighting actual Nazis—an enemy both numerically and technologically superior at times. The wonderful thing about my grandfather, though, was that he never needed to say any of this to me. He didn’t have to point out that I was a “foolish young man with very small problems.” He was genuinely pleased that I lived in a safer, freer, and more compassionate society. Indeed, if you’d asked him, that was precisely what his sacrifice was about: so that his grandchildren could have “very small problems.”

And what, exactly, was his sacrifice? What did he endure? Like many of his generation, he rarely spoke about the truly harrowing, gritty, and terrifying aspects of his service. Instead, he would share amusing, family-friendly stories about his adventures in exotic places like Sri Lanka (which he still called Ceylon), Sierra Leone, or even downtown Oakland, California. We grandchildren managed to piece together that at least one of his ships was torpedoed and had to be completely rebuilt at Mare Island, Vallejo, California. After he passed away, my sister Stephanie, my cousin Russell, and I made informal and occasional attempts to piece together his wartime experiences. In recent years, this process has become much easier thanks to the online availability and searchability of military archives, which have allowed us to reconstruct some of his story.

As I mention in the song, his ship, HMS Liverpool, appears to have been severely damaged during the Battle of Calabria. This must have been a terrifying ordeal, as he was an engineer and would have been below decks, striving to keep the ship afloat, effecting repairs, and fighting fires. The records are patchy, so it’s difficult to say whether any lives were lost in these attacks, but it was certainly a significant engagement. The ship was disabled but remained structurally sound enough to be taken in tow towards Alexandria, Egypt. However, en route, she was bombed by an Italian dive-bomber, resulting in a massive explosion that tore the bow completely off, causing extensive damage and loss of life. Remarkably, the ship was temporarily repaired in Alexandria and then towed all the way to Mare Island, California, where my grandfather was part of the crew overseeing her repair and return to service.

I should note that I have mis-titled the song. Since some of the action involving this ship took place in the Eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Leros, I mistakenly believed it was part of the Battle of Leros. In fact, that engagement was a key part of the Dodecanese Campaign and a significant setback for the British and Allies, but it occurred much later in the war. By that time, my grandfather was stationed in Sierra Leone, operating from a former merchant vessel, HMS Philoctetes, which served as a floating repair ship for damaged Royal Navy and merchant vessels. By then, repairing ships had become something of a speciality for my grandfather, given his considerable experience.

Although this was considered a relatively “safe” posting, it was dangerous in a different way. The repair crews worked on two ships moored alongside each other, so there was always the risk of injury from the movement between vessels or the danger of falling overboard into waters with swift currents. The narrowing of the estuary at Freetown creates a strong tidal scour, with currents reaching up to six knots. While this preserves a natural deep-water harbor, anyone falling overboard would likely be swept away.

In addition, it appears my grandfather was involved in another historic incident while serving aboard HMS Liverpool. In January 1940, before Japan and the United Kingdom were officially at war, Liverpool caused a diplomatic incident by intercepting the Japanese liner Asama Maru off the coast of Japan and removing 21 German nationals, which prompted a formal protest from the Japanese government.

One final correction the US made minesweeper that my Grandfather served on, that was later in the Cold War not during WWII. So in fact "Mickey Mouse with a big push broom" was not in fact "sweeping up German mines."

Looking back, I realize that for all the weird and wonderful places I’ve been I was never really caught up in the kind of world-shaking events my grandfather lived through. Sure, I’ve had my share of misadventures and existential crises, but let’s be honest: none of it compares to dodging torpedoes in the Med or patching up warships under enemy fire. My stories are mostly about problems of my own making. Yet, you know my stories—my trials and tribulations—but not his. Perhaps this song can help balance that out a bit.

Finally hats off to Megan Slankard who does backing vocals on the record. She also did some sort of whistling keyboard part to evoke boatswain’s whistles.

Knock knock grandad I’m at your door
Wounded pride cause I lost my girl
Lost my friends down on my luck
Can I stay with you

Cause you’re always so sunny grandad
Cause the Jerrys didn’t get you
Leave you sleeping with the fishes
At the bottom of the sea

So sunny grandad
Cause the krauts didn’t get you
Leave you sleeping with the fishes
At the bottom of the sea

You were my age
You’d already been
Stuka bombed and torpedoed twice
The campaign at Dodecanese
Can I stay with you

Cause you’re always so sunny grandad
Didn’t sink you at Leros
Leave you sleeping with the fishes
At the bottom of the sea
You’re so sunny grandad
Cause the Jerrys didn’t get you
Leave you sleeping with the fishes
At the bottom of the sea

And I know
I’m a foolish young man
With very small problems
I know
You would never say that to me
I know
You wouldn’t want me
To have to fight in World War II
To get a better disposition
To keep it all in perspective

Flying high off Sierra Leone
Rum rations with the local host
Lost some mates on that swaying gangplank
Swallowed up by the angry sea

You’re so sunny grandad
Didn’t sink you at Leros
Leave you sleeping with the fishes
At the bottom of the sea

You’re still sunny
Granddad cause the krauts didn’t get you
Leave you sleeping with the fishes
At the bottom of the sea

And I know
I’m a foolish young man
With very small problems
And I know
You would never say that to me
And I know
You wouldn’t want me
To have to go and fight the Nazis
To get a better disposition
To put it all in perspective

And I know
I’m foolish young man
With very small problems
And I know
You’re probably annoyed with me
And I know
You would never want me
To have to go and fight the Nazis
To get a better disposition
To put it all in perspective

Spiced rum with clove liqueur
Looking at your old ship’s plaque
Mickey Mouse with a big push broom
Sweeping up German mines

You’re always so sunny grandad
Didn’t sink you at Leros
Leave you swimming with the fishes
At the bottom of the sea
You’re still sunny
Granddad cause the krauts didn’t get you
Leave you swimming with the fishes
At the bottom of the sea

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David Lowery: vocals, bass, guitars and drum machine
Megan Slankard: backing vocals, keys and whistlin’