Overview
From drag nights with the soldiers in the middle of the Atlantic to tending to traumatized Argentine POWs—how an untrained catering crew overcame initial homophobia to be seen as true heroes of the Falklands War
The crew of the Norland were having a whale of a time in 1982, ferrying passengers between Rotterdam and Hull. Especially the 'girls' in the catering crew: Wendy, Frankie and Candy, all stewards and all gay men. So when their ferry was requisitioned by the government to transfer 900 paratroopers to Ascension Island for the war in the Falklands, the 'girls' jumped at the chance to be part of the crew. Shockingly, they were asked to carry on right into the heart of the Falklands, where they were to be the very first ship of the entire Task Force to make a landing. Untrained and unprepared, the crew faced heavy bombardment from the Argentinean air force. Miraculously, the Norland survived intact as many other ships were destroyed around it. And, just as miraculously, the paratroopers eventually looked on their camp catering staff as the heroes of their war. Written with the real-life protagonists, this book relates their incredible experiences in a war they never signed up for, while demonstrating how lasting bonds can be formed between the unlikeliest of people.
Author Biography
Warren FitzGerald is the author of the novel The Go-Away Bird, which won an Amazon Rising Stars Award, was longlisted for The Authors' Club Best First Book Award, and was Waterstones Book of the Month in October 2011. For All in the Same Boat, he interviewed many of the surviving crew of MV Norland, to produce one of the most extraordinary true stories to come out of any war.