Jim's cinematic tug of war
Weeks later, Jim Radford was under German fire with bodies floating in the sea around him, as he helped establish the Mulberry Harbour for the D–Day Normandy landings.
He said: “I saw more dead and dying men in my first six months at sea than I've ever seen.
“I joined the tugs because that was the only way I could get to sea and every kid in Hull wanted to play a part in the war.
“In 1944, you were either a boy or a man and we became men very quickly.”
Mr Radford, is now 70 and is believed to be the youngest D-Day Veteran. He will return to his home town this week for a special presentation of MayDay Tugs Of War at Hull Screen.
He will be joined by film-maker Robin Williams and other veterans of the deep sea rescue tugs including Jim Williams, Fred Radford and Ron Robinson, they will recount the history of the little-known service that played a vital role in the SecondWorld War.
Mr Radford's brother Jack had been killed when his shop SS Cree was torpedoed in the Atlantic in 1940. His other brother Fred had joined the Royal Navy Rescue Tugs Service in 1942 so he was determined to follow him. Too young to be allowed to join the Royal Navy, he went into the Merchant Navy on the tug Empire Larch.
Accompanying Allied convoys all over the world, the tugs provided vital support against the threat of German U-boats.
As the United Towing Company was based in Hull, the city provided many crewmen for the rescue tugs operated by the Royal Navy (T124T unit) and also for Merchant Navy tugs leased to the Ministry of War Transport.
Assembled in haste in 1940, they were kept secret from the Germans, but became targets because they protected millions of tonnes of shipping and their crews.
By the end of the war, the deep sea rescue tugs had salvaged more than three million tonnes of shipping but had lost 30 tugs and 600 tugmen.
Mr Radford said: “Historically, it was a momentous period. At the time, we knew it was a very significant event we were involved in.”
Despite the contribution of the Rescue Tugs, he remains disappointed the service has not found its place in history alongside the Desert Rats or the bomber pilots.
“It's rather strange that they were so significant and yet no one knows about them.”
Robin Williams, the Californian film-maker who produced MayDay Tugs Of War, will introduce the film.
He said: “When I first met these guys I was amazed to find no one had recorded what they did.
“Without their contribution, the Battle Of The Atlantic would have been lost and the Normandy Invasion would have failed. Theirs is the biggest untold story of the Second World War.”
