It was June 15, 1942 and 21-year-old Irishman John Headley was heading to Malta as part of a convoy to deliver supplies to the war-torn island, when the destroyer he was on was struck by an Italian torpedo and he became a war prisoner.
John had never been to Malta before – and he never made it to the island during or after the war. But that mission impacted the next years of his life when he was sent to a war camp and only released in April 1945.
The former submarine detector has just turned 100, on October 30 – in the midst of a global pandemic.
“Due to the coronavirus, I could not have a party so my son, his wife and one of my grandchildren came over and we had lunch at home.
“COVID-19 is much more dangerous than a torpedo since it’s spread all over the world. The torpedo hit and sank my vessel. But, if I’m exposed to the virus, it will only impact me,” he says with a chuckle from his home in Wicklow, Ireland.
John said he was an able seaman, submarine detector, on the HMS Bedouin – a destroyer of the British navy that saw service in World War II.
Headley was a submarine detector on HMS Bedouin
During the war, Malta was a base for British ships, submarines and aircraft. As a result, the island was a target and the British forces tried to ensure there were enough supplies for both the population and the military forces – sending convoys to deliver supplies. The most successful convoy was Operation Pedestal, known in Malta as Il-Konvoj ta’ Santa Marija, in August 1942. But before that there were other less successful attempts such as Operation Julius and Operation Harpoon: only two merchantmen from Harpoon reached the island, the Vigorous convoy was forced to turn back.
In June 1942, HMS Bedouin was involved in Operation Harpoon – a large allied convoy to resupply Malta, made up of six merchantmen of which only two made it to the island.
At the time, John had only been stationed on the destroyer for four weeks.
On June 15, 1942, the convoy was attacked by Italian cruisers and later hit by a torpedo. She was hit by at least 12 six-inch rounds and had near-misses from the cruisers and an aerial torpedo before sinking.
Twenty-eight men were killed in action and 213 were taken as prisoners of war by the Italian Navy and later taken by the Germans – first to a Polish camp and eventually to a forced labour camp, in the Harz mountains, in Germany, from where John was released in April 1945.
After the war, John studied accountancy and got married, having “a lovely marriage” and a son, Nick, who gave him four grandsons and now one great-granddaughter with “another on the way”.
On his 100th birthday, various tributes to John and his service poured in on the Facebook page of the Royal British Legion. Looking back, John had a full life which he intends to keep celebrating. “This year, I could not celebrate my birthday due to the lockdown. I hope to celebrate it with a party in the spring,” he says.