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Bugle Boy
In 1939 Len Chester joined the Royal Marines, aged just 14, as a bugler. He sailed on the Artic Convoys at the beginning of the Second World War aboard HMS Iron Duke. This is his story.
127 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 12, 2014
When it was published 7 years ago, I gobbled up Bugle Boy, Len Chester's memoir of his years in the Royal Navy during World War II. I spotted it on the shelf the other day and took it down to re-read this Armistice Day and I'm so glad I did.
That's the barely 14-year-old Len on the far left in December 1939. He had signed up at age 13 with the Royal Marines as a bugle boy, an age at which it was customary for those boys - soon men, whatever their age - to take the King's shilling.
Bugle Boy Chester spent the entire war at sea on one ship or another. And his memories of life aboard ship in Scapa Flow (it was often wet there), Russia (it was cold), and in the Mediterranean are amusing, informative, and sometimes, honestly, heart-stopping.
That's the barely 14-year-old Len on the far left in December 1939. He had signed up at age 13 with the Royal Marines as a bugle boy, an age at which it was customary for those boys - soon men, whatever their age - to take the King's shilling.
Bugle Boy Chester spent the entire war at sea on one ship or another. And his memories of life aboard ship in Scapa Flow (it was often wet there), Russia (it was cold), and in the Mediterranean are amusing, informative, and sometimes, honestly, heart-stopping.
October 9, 2023
Having spent 24 years as a Royal Marines bugler I could associate with this man.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews