ERNEST (Ernie) Munson, who lived for many years in West Somerset and was one of the last surviving crew members of HMS Amethyst, made famous by the film ‘Yangtze Incident’ telling the story of the ship’s escape from Chinese communists in 1949, has died.

Mr Munson was 94.

He was just 17 years old and serving as a seaman on the Amethyst when the frigate was caught between the two opposing armies in the Chinese Civil War.

Chairman Mao’s communist forces occupied one side of the Yangtze River, with the nationalist army on the other bank.

The Amethyst was trapped on the river for 100 days until its captain ordered canvas camouflage to be put up and tried to make an escape by night.

But, the communists opened fire on the ship, hitting it more than 50 times and killing 22 crew, including the captain, with 31 others injured.

One shot hit the gun Mr Munson was manning and covered him in sparks.

The ship ran aground on a mudbank and then fled to the shelter of a nearby creek on the nationalist side, and Mr Munson helped to bury his dead crewmates.

The Admiralty then spent three months unsuccessfully trying to negotiate its release before the acting captain decided on another nighttime dash 150 miles downriver to safety.

However, the Amethyst collided with a Chinese junk and came under fire again.

It eventually reached the open sea and met up with the British fleet.

The ‘incident’ was the first Royal Navy action since the war and the surviving crew were treated as heroes and on their return to the UK were taken to Buckingham Palace to meet the King and Queen.

Mr Munson as a boy had been evacuated to Timberscombe at the start of World War Two with his mother Dora, who was pregnant with his younger brother John.

They lived in Knowle House, where John Munson was born, who continued to live in the village until 1996 when he moved to Minehead, where he still lives today.

Ernie left school aged 15 and joined the Navy, training on HMS Norfolk before his fateful assignment to HMS Amethyst.

His elder brother George had also joined the Navy and saw action during the war on HMS Erica, which was sunk in 1943 by a mine off Libya, and then joined HMS Exmoor.

Ernie Munson left the Navy in 1957 and became a Metropolitan Police officer, but following the death of his first wife Margaret he moved back to West Somerset and lived for a time in Dunster Marsh and later in Cutcombe for 15 years.

In 1969 he moved to Dorset with his second wife Gwen and joined HM Coastguard, serving for 23 years initially in Portland Bill and then in Weymouth.

He is survived by daughters Ann and Virginia, and son Nicholas, and his brother John

Mr Munson died on May 6 and his funeral service will take place on June 4 in Weymouth.