World War Two sailor, 97, swims for the first time since his ship was torpedoed
'The water was a lot warmer than it was all those years ago in the English Channel.'
A Royal Navy veteran has gone swimming for the first time since he survived his ship being sunk by German torpedoes during the Second World War.
Roger Roberts, 97, went for his first dip in 80 years after HMS Charybdis was destroyed in 1943 – leaving him stranded in the middle of the sea.
Some 464 people were killed, with Roger being just one of 107 men on board to be rescued. He is now one of only two survivors from the tragedy still alive.
Opening up about the tragedy, Roger said: ‘There was ice in the water, and it was freezing. I was lucky. I was a good swimmer.
‘We went into the water and had about two hours in the water trying to find planks of wood. We managed to scramble onto the planks and there were 60 men holding onto it.
‘It was very hard. I managed to come out in one piece from the incident, but a lot didn’t.’
Roger has not set foot in the water since but put it on his bucket list when he moved to Foley Grange Care Home in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, last January.
Wyre Forest Leisure Centre then invited Roger down for a 20-minute swimming lesson last week, which he said was ‘a lot warmer than the English Channel’.
He said: ‘I enjoyed the swimming lesson, but it was a lot of effort for someone of my age.
‘My motto in life is “never give up and keep going” and that’s what made me want to get back in the water.’
Roger was born on April 12, 1925, and signed up to the British Army while still underage at 16.
He was given a shilling and sent home on a train after his sisters contacted the army recruitment team to inform them he was too young.
A year later, aged 17, he enrolled with the Royal Navy in 1943 as a Stoker and boarded the HMS Charybdis – a Dido-class cruiser launched in 1940.
Whilst on board, the HMS Charybdis was hit by German torpedo boats in the English Channel in October 1943 and started to sink.
Working in the engine room at the time of the strike, Roger was told to abandon the quickly sinking ship.
After surviving the horrific attack, he married wife Adeline and they had one daughter, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Marilyn, 72, Roger’s daughter said: ‘I didn’t know about what happened to my dad during the war until I was about 20, as he rarely spoke about it.
‘When I found out, I was so shocked. He was very lucky to survive and him and his friend John are now the only two living survivors from the catastrophe.’
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