Shipmates reunited by a letter from Oz

Bob Sewell, left, and Raymond ‘Galli’ Gallienne showing off their matching tattoos in the 60s.

TWO navy friends have been reunited after 44 years thanks to the Guernsey Press.
Raymond ‘Galli’ Gallienne and Bob Sewell served together in the Far East in the 1960s but lost touch on leaving the service.
Soon afterwards, Bob moved to Australia but has spent the last decade searching for his old shipmate.
But when he hit on the idea of writing to Raymond’s local newspaper, the letter proved the breakthrough he’d been searching for. He also included a photo showing the old friends sporting matching tattoos they had done on their oriental travels.
‘As soon as I saw the letter I got a jittery tummy,’ said Mr Gallienne, who contacted the Guernsey Press immediately.
‘Then bits of memories came flying back – people I knew and places I went. To suddenly reach memories of those days from the archives of my mind gave me a weird and wonderful feeling.’
When his friend down under got the news by email, he was delighted and emailed back:
‘Hi Ray, I have finally found you.’
Mr Gallienne, who works as a side-lift driver at Norman Piette and is now 63, was only 18 when the photograph was taken on board HMS Duchess.
He thinks it set sail from Portsmouth for its tour of the Far East in March 1963 and remembers his navy days with great happiness.
‘We were young, sailing the world and getting paid for it. We went to many exotic and very interesting places and saw some amazing things, plus we used to mess around on the ship a lot – it was great.
‘We had brilliant friendships and morale on board the ship was very good. It was all good.
‘I remember bits clearly, but it was 45 years ago and I think I will recollect even more when Bob and I get talking,’ he said.
‘We sailed to Gibraltar and Malta, through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea and then to the Maldives. We stayed in a beautiful lagoon for a month, then Singapore, Hong Kong and Borneo. We always had shore leave to see the sights,’ he recalled.
Some of his less happy recollections are the hard work involved in being in the service – and a typhoon that caused 100ft waves.
‘It was scary at the time but, looking back, well – it was certainly an experience,’ he said.
Mr Gallienne said he sometimes used to wonder about leaving the navy when he did.
‘But with the family I have now, I know I don’t regret it at all. I might never have met my wife otherwise.’
His friend is now 65 and still living in Australia with his wife and three children.
‘Bob is looking good in the photos of him and his wife after all these years,’ said Mr Gallienne, who met his own wife, Ganine, in Guernsey shortly after leaving the navy.
They have two children and four grandchildren.
The Gallienne family are now thinking about planning a trip to Australia for a big reunion.
In the meantime, they plan to keep in touch by email, which Mr Gallienne’s daughter types for him, and he wants to try a webcam.
‘I just think it’s amazing that Bob has done this and found me,’ he said. ‘I don’t think many people would – I take my hat off to you, Bob.’