Here is the story of South Australian Reginald May.

The notes on Reginald Maxwell May’s enlistment papers say, in part, ‘Can swim’. That was encouraging, for he joined the navy and served on HMAS Kanimbla, a former passenger vessel converted for use as an armed merchant cruiser and landing ship during World War II. He enlisted in August 1943, shortly before his 18^th birthday. A year earlier, his brother Frank had been killed in action in New Guinea. Reg himself would go on to be awarded life membership of the RSL. He’d developed his love for the water in childhood – growing up in the Riverland town of Waikerie.

Reginald’s story was collected as part of a oral history community project called World War II in Words where South Australian World War Two veterans shared their stories in their own words.