The Human Minesweeper

Douglas Bruce-Jones was 18-years-old in June 1944. He was an Ordinary Seaman with Royal Navy Party P.1574 and had been specially trained to clear mines from the liberated ports of northern Europe.

Douglas Bruce-Jones joined up in December 1943. He had been a sea cadet at Oxford and remembers coming to Maidenhead, "a lovely little riverside town", to row in a coxed four against the Maidenhead sea cadets.

He volunteered for special service as a diver to clear mines and carry out small-scale salvage work.

Underwater training in how to search the bottom of a dock was done in Wapping Dock and later in Barrow-in-Furness.

Each party had 15 divers and 15 maintenance personnel. All though standing by for D-Day, the unit was not called until later because the port of Caen remained in German hands.

Once in Normandy Douglas was billeted in the lifeboat house at Ouistreham and helped to sweep the Caen canal, which led inland from the coast. Here they found 'telemines' mounted on posts.

In the event no clearance was done at Caen. By the time the heavily damaged docks were captured they were no longer needed, as the allies were advancing rapidly east and north-east. So the unit moved on to Rouen, Bologne and Calais and the ports of Belgium.

Douglas has lived in Maidenhead since 1979.

Quotes:
"We regarded ourselves as an elite. There was a wonderful relationship between officers and men. We were well-fad by the navy - even ratings had bacon and eggs for breakfast."

"We knew we could die. The possibility of barbed wire puncturing our helmet, third lung, or breathing tube put the fear of God into us."

"It would have been a clammy death."