Vivid recall of moment his ship was torpedoed

George Thomason remembers his time during World War II.

They tried to shoot him, blow him up and drown him, but George Thomas Thomason is a survivor.

Mr Thomason will turn 98 in May and was born in Inglewood in Taranaki, but he's called Rotorua home since 1951.

The former carpenter was district valuer for the region for 27 years and on Anzac Day he will remember his mates who he served with in North Africa and Italy as a young man.

He left New Zealand for a war he was keen to play his part in on February 1, 1941 and returned home exactly three years and nine months later on October 31, 1944.

"My father told me 'you don't know what you're getting yourself in for'."

"But our war was entirely different, we didn't have that trench stuff, or the gas - we had a little city and we dug a hole every time we moved, and if you were lucky you slept in it."

But, like many veterans he said war was not all it was cracked up to be.

"It changed my outlook on life, I got a lot more passive, everything could be gone so easily.

"It's just plain bloody stupidity in all senses.

"But, the point was Hitler had gone crazy - he did a hell of a job for his country - but then he got too big-headed and was making a nuisance of himself, he just had to be stopped, there was no doubt about that."

But, his most vivid memories are of when the ship he was on, the Chakdina, was torpedoed and sunk on the night of December 5, 1941.

Mr Thomason was wounded in the right shoulder by shrapnel on November 28 while fighting near Tobruk at a place called Sidi Rezegh in North Africa and was being sent to Alexandria in Egypt to recover.

"All went well until about 9.30pm when I heard a plane. A few seconds later there was a terrific explosion and our old ship stopped dead in the water.

"A torpedo had struck and it was obvious almost straight away that she was going to sink."

This was going to be a big problem for Mr Thomason as he had only one arm working properly and could not swim.

On board were about 600 men, including prisoners of war and German General Johann von Ravenstein who had also been captured.

But, he was wearing his Mae West life jacket and after collecting some of his gear, and trying to get his boots and great coat off, he decided to jump overboard when things started sliding off the deck.

"A few seconds later the old Chakdina had sunk and lots of chaps went down with her."

After bobbing around in the sea for a while he found some oars which he used to keep himself afloat until a raft drifted past with men holding onto it and he joined them.

"We even had a bit of a sing song, Roll Out The Barrel it was.

"It may sound silly but it's completely true."

A few hours later they were rescued.

"How I got to the side of the HMS Farndale I don't know, but I got there somehow.

"I believed they rescued about 140 people ... no one will ever criticise the navy when I'm about."