Long-term living in close quarters bonds people, creates stupendous camaraderie, and develops respect for human differences. But from my own research I believe three answers are paramount:ġ. Picture courtesy of Ī key question must be what does being at sea – as opposed to in the army, RAF and at the Home Front – enable in the way of non-heterosexual expression and identity exploration?
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Picture: John Beardmore as court usher in Rumpole of the Bailey, 1979. He also took part in the North Africa, Sicily, and Normandy landings and was Mentioned in Dispatches and be-medalled (p70-71). (Betty, his Women’s Auxiliary Air Force sister, unbeknown to him, plotted its course). He was a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve sub-lieutenant who was in the appallingly challenging Russian convoys including PQ17 on corvette HMS Poppy. This was proved, for example, by John Beardmore (1920-2004). In fact, relationships, sexual preference and personal identity do not necessarily bear any relation to bravery, self-discipline and commitment to the greater good. The same argument - ‘sexual desire would distract people from the duties’ - was used to oppose Royal Navy women being allowed to work at sea before 1990. What if you’re attacked and they’re busy taking care of each other’s desires”' (p.xix ) He disputed with senior armed forces officers on board: ‘Their argument was simply “you can’t have men playing with each other like this. Webber was on an (unnamed here) civilian ship transporting the Queen’s Own Highlanders to the South Atlantic. WHY WOULDN'T QUEER MEN BE ON SHIPS IN WAR?īringing the story forward to the 1982 Falklands Conflict the author introduces merchant seafarer John Webber, who explains why gay men were thought unsuited to ships, especially when battling on the waves.
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My review here focuses on the Royal Navy in WW2, but the book shows the armed forces and home front queer contexts in both world wars. There are disproportionately small references to men in the Merchant Navy, where MSM (men who have sex with men) proliferated. Picture, right: Anthony Heckstall-Smith in later life, when he was an author. Picture, left: George Melly as a young man, at his typewriter