Trevor Buttery

Sicut Leonis -Be Like Lions Trevor Buttery

'Sicut Leonis - Be Like Lions' is a story based on true events affecting a naval rating aboard the destroyer HMS Sikh between March 1942 and January 1944. Acknowledgments The story was uncovered by accident in 2012 following a house clearance in Hull. Amongst the personal items donated to charity was an innocuous looking cigar box. On the lid, written by hand were the words 'MY BELOVED SON ALF.' Inside this box was a remarkable collection of letters, telegrams, photographs, newspaper cuttings and other paper memorabilia kept by a mother, recording the war time story of her beloved son Alfred Bailey Jordan. Most of the items in the box were original airgraphs sent by Alf to his parents and sister living at 192 Woodcock Street, Hull. They had been sent whilst Alf was serving aboard HMS Sikh a destroyer based in the Mediterranean. These airgraphs, despite being censored, illustrate a remarkable story. As well as the airgraphs there were also many other important documents inside the box, including telegrams, newspaper cuttings and photographs which are key elements of the story. The story tells of the operational campaign of HMS Sikh, whose motto was Sicut Leonis - Be Like Lions and those sailors on board and contrasts this with the family life back home in Hull of the Jordan family in the early months of 1942.