War veteran who survived U-boat attack dies aged 101

Mr Judd joked that he continued to enjoy his grog ‘ration’ until the end of his life.

After his ship was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean, he was adrift in a lifeboat for more than a day before being spotted and rescued.

Mr Judd, who hailed from Cardiff, moved to Market Drayton to live with daughter Sue Walker five years ago.

His funeral on April 14 at 12.30pm at Telford Crematorium will include a guard of honour by the Royal Naval Association and there will be a standard bearer from the Royal British Legion.

Mr Judd joined the Royal Navy in 1943 and was seconded to the Merchant Navy in DEMS – defensively equipped merchant ships. As the name suggests, these were merchant ships armed against submarine and air attack.

"On his first deployment he was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean," said Sue.

"Three lifeboats got away and they roped themselves together, so they were in a circle, but during the night a whale came up in the middle of the circle and they had to quickly cut the ropes and they all drifted away. Dad's lifeboat was the only one they could see in the morning and they were spotted, I think by a Catalina flying boat.

"It could not land as the sea was too rough, but dropped them a wind-up radio so they could signal their position, and next day they were picked up by a Free French ship."

Sue does not know the fate of the other lifeboats.

In a 2019 interview Bill had told how his ship had been called Clan Macarthur and 53 men had died in the sinking.

"We got in the three lifeboats and the submarine came up alongside the boat I was in. He said he was sorry for sinking the ship but he said 'it's my job'. He was a very nice chap really.

"He offered medication for any cuts and bruises but that's all he could do. I've since learned his name was Wolfgang Lüth."

Luth survived the defeat of Nazi Germany only to be shot dead a few days after the end of the European war when he failed to respond to a challenge by a German sentry at the German naval academy he commanded.

Bill's lifeboat had contained himself and 29 others. After rescue he was taken to Mauritius, arriving there with nothing but a set of pyjamas and an oilskin mac.

He was to recall: "The local people dressed me with boys' clothes because I was about the smallest man on the ship."

His subsequent service saw him travel to places like New York, India, Italy and New Zealand.

"He went all over the world and never had a passport. He used to be quite proud of that," said Sue.

"My dad was very much a pragmatist and got on with what was thrown at him. When I was little he never talked about the war at all, but in later life would relate so many different stories about what had happened to him in the navy, although it was never really much about the war itself."

In peacetime he had a wide variety of jobs, including working in a steel works, then as a plumber's mate, a traffic warden, and ultimately in the found property office in central Cardiff police headquarters.

Sue said that despite being from Cardiff, he was a countryman at heart, knowing the names of trees and plants, and loving things like fishing.

Mr Judd, who would pop into the RBL club in Market Drayton for a drink and a chat, died at Woodcroft care home in Market Drayton where he continued his traditional naval ways by continuing to take grog, which is rum diluted with water.

"Even when he was in Woodcroft he would have a can of lager at 11am and rum with water at 3pm."

Mr Judd, who had married the late Margaret in 1941, is survived by daughters Sue and Ann Baker, and grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren.