(gentle music)
- We came in the same day as Hermes, exactly the same day,
but we came in before her.
She was supposed to come in before us, I think,
and they said, "No, you can go in."
So we went, I think we just went in anyway,
and came from Nab Tower, and you got closer and closer,
and you think,
you're proud of coming home, and you think,
"I wonder if anyone's gonna be there."
- Then coming up the harbour, then,
the harbour entrance,
the crowds, the noise.
And as you go past different parts of the harbour,
there's usually the ceremonial bit,
the flags were flying,
ships' companies cheering us back.
- And there's just thousands of people waving
down on the Hotwalls, on the sand,
people with flags, and cheering us,
and this is amazing.
And it was an absolute fantastic feeling.
- The noise was,
I mean, it was just so many people, excited,
the kids in pushchairs, and running around,
all with Union Jacks on, it was a beautiful day.
- The anticipation started from the night before.
You have the tradition of Channel Night
when you come home from a deployment,
and we all enjoyed that.
And then I remember getting dressed
in our number one uniforms, ready to come in.
- The mess I was on was 2NT mess,
which was directly below the flight deck.
There was a scuttle, known as a porthole,
I was able to look out of that,
and just seeing the small boats out at Spithead Point
was absolutely amazing.
And you're just looking out at this crowd,
and it was just,
there was just this noise, absolute noise.
And you think to yourself,
"Wow, where do I find my mum and dad?"
And then all of a sudden, call it weird,
I just heard this, "Phil,"
and I sort of looked down,
and there was my mum, waving,
but she was way, way back.
But fortunately they was standing on an ambulance
- So who turned up?
My mum, my sisters, my brother,
one of my nieces, and my aunt.
I didn't know about it at all, so that was quite emotional
- We had a smashing welcome
from our families and that on the jetty,
they were on the Round Tower at Portsmouth,
and then more in in in the dock yard.
But my family weren't there,
my wife was at home looking after the two kids.
Thought it would be easier for me
just to sort myself out
and get home to them in good time.
- Looking back, all across Round Tower
was all of the pictures,
all of the banners, Union Jacks,
and welcome home, all these.
And some of the names I recognized
from people, characters that were on the ship.
(gentle music)
- Pulled the ship in, tied it alongside, gangway came up,
skipper walks off,
and then he comes back on with his family and everything.
And then the the hordes just ran up the jetty,
we're running down,
and then just arms around each other,
And I saw my mum and dad there.
My mum screaming, "Get over here! Alan, Alan."
And I'm thinking, "Who's shouting at me there?" you know.
It was my mum, "Alan!"
She comes on runs up, big cuddle off my mother.
My sister's there, she's shouting and screaming.
And my dad just looked at me,
and he's really stern-faced.
And he's just, "Come here,"
shook me hand, pulled me into him.
And he give me the biggest hug I'd ever had off him ever.
And he just said, "Welcome home, son, well done."
- I was very anxious to get over the gangway.
And I ran down greeted my wife and the two children.
And then my father come over to me,
and he was quite a strong, stern man.
And I think he'd only ever shaken hands with me before.
I don't remember lots and lots of cuddles,
or anything like that.
But on this particular day
he come up and put his arms round me.
And it was it was a great moment,
and I'll always remember that.
(gentle music)
- We'd just been to war and come back to this.
And we just felt like, "Wow, what?
How did they know about everything? Wow."
Just out of this world, the feeling was out of this world.
You'd expect your family to be there, and that'd be it.
But the whole place was just buzzing.
There was people everywhere, hanging out of windows,
there was boats with us coming in,
with water cannons going off,
and there was people waving and just, oh flags everywhere.
It was the biggest welcoming feeling I've ever had
in my 45 years career of coming home to Portsmouth.
(gentle music)
With heartfelt thanks to Barrie Jones — HMS Intrepid Alan 'Sharkey' Ward — HMS Herald Mark Edwards — HMS Yarmouth Chris Purcell — HMS Sheffield Derek 'Smokey' Cole — HMS Intrepid Joe Erskine — HMS Hydra Andy Gatherer — HMS Glamorgan John Galway — HMS Sheffield Philip Currier — HMS Hermes John Mathison — Royal Marines
Royal Armouries BBC South