INSPIRED by ‘a very full life’ Redditch man Roger Henry Lippett has written a book on his life which began living on the Batchley Estate. He went on to serve in the Royal Navy and wants to share his story.
He was born on January 30 1939 on the council estate, with his dad’s name Henry, being given to him as his middle name.
Here he sheds light on his life family and friends as a social record of sorts that may be of interest to his children, grandchildren and the people of Redditch.
Although he said he had never achieved great wealth or fame he felt his life had moments worth recounting.
In his words: “I now live in the beautiful city of Plymouth in Devon but I will always be a Batchley boy.
“Far have I traveled, and much have I seen and this is my story, serialised in the Redditch Standard.”
Part 22
ONE of the highlights of this six month deployment to the West Indies in 1967 was a visit to Houston, Texas.
We proceeded slowly past Galveston Island, through Galveston bay and eventually tied up alongside in Houston city.
We were made most welcome and a junior girls band played as we came alongside the jetty.
We were always made welcome in American cities and of course being in uniform made us noticeable. The entire world loves a sailor in uniform.
At least that used to be the case. At the time I am writing this, 2019, the modern naval personnel have to proceed ashore in ‘civvies’ as it is assumed to be unsafe to be seen in a uniform, especially since the troubles with the IRA.
Houston was a lovely city to see and as I said we were made welcome wherever we went but it was a very large city and most people went around by car.
On one occasion Topsy and I were having a drink in a bar with a group of locals when one suggested we go up the road to the next bar. It turned out to be about 20 miles up the road.
Of all the sights I was most impressed by the ‘Astrodome’, the world’s first air conditioned huge domed sports stadium.
Another remarkable experience was a visit to the NASA manned space centre, the home of the astronauts
Topsy and I got talking to a couple of engineers from the centre who offered to show us around.
They showed us the space suits and various items connected to space travel including the gravitational machine in which the astronauts would train to experience weightlessness.
The highlight of my visit to NASA was when we were shown into the control room and I was allowed to sit in the seat from which the future manned Apollo mission to the moon would be controlled from.
So later in 1969 when the astronauts landed on the moon I remembered the moment when I had actually occupied the seat of the man who controlled the first moon mission.
We left Houston and on our way down the Houston ship channel back towards the Gulf of Mexico we passed the mighty battleship USS Texas, a most impressive warship now moored in perpetuity as a museum piece open to the public.
It is the only survivor of the dreadnaught class, a veteran of two world wars. It was presented to the state of Texas by the US Navy.
We also passed the San Jacinto battleground, the site of the famous battle between the Texan and Mexican armies which on April 21st 1836 won independence for Texas.
We returned out to sea through the Gulf of Mexico and out into the Caribbean where we continued our patrol of the islands.
The time came around when our tour of duty was almost complete and the ship was to return home and we learned that the ship was to go in for a long refit and part reconstruction which was programmed to take a year
Most of the crew were to be drafted but some key personnel were to be retained on board to assist the dockyard as required.
As I was to remain on board it meant a years shore time so Rose and I made the difficult decision to sell our lovely house and to move into married quarters in Saint Budeaux, Plymouth so we could be together as a family for a whole year.
It was a big decision to sell our house in Kircaldy but being together was more important.
We eventually returned to our base in Ireland Island and after welcoming our relief ship we began our return voyage back home leaving the blue seas and skies of the Caribbean behind.
It was an uneventful journey until on June 23 1967 we came across the abandoned German ship MV Essberger Chemist.
