Post by Administrator on Apr 30, 2020 18:35:57 GMT
This was posted on the Newport City Council VE day web page.
“By VE day the British Merchant Navy had lost around two and half thousand ships totalling eleven and half million tons and more than 36,000 personnel, even excluding those who had died ashore as a result of war.
I cannot imagine what it must have been like after sailing through almost six years with the threat of the German U-Boat hanging over your head to be finally able set sail and ply the trade for which you were trained with the only enemy being the sea itself.
I have talked to men who sailed those war torn days who had been torpedoed, not once but two and three times, but still returned to the sea to support the troops and deliver the essential supplies our country needed, whether war munitions or food for our tables.
On behalf of the British Merchant Navy and the Newport branch of the Merchant Navy Association I can say with the certainty and unanimity, we will remember them.’”
Alan Speight, Chairman Newport Branch, Merchant Navy Association
Newport Merchant Navy Association
“By VE day the British Merchant Navy had lost around two and half thousand ships totalling eleven and half million tons and more than 36,000 personnel, even excluding those who had died ashore as a result of war.
I cannot imagine what it must have been like after sailing through almost six years with the threat of the German U-Boat hanging over your head to be finally able set sail and ply the trade for which you were trained with the only enemy being the sea itself.
I have talked to men who sailed those war torn days who had been torpedoed, not once but two and three times, but still returned to the sea to support the troops and deliver the essential supplies our country needed, whether war munitions or food for our tables.
On behalf of the British Merchant Navy and the Newport branch of the Merchant Navy Association I can say with the certainty and unanimity, we will remember them.’”
Alan Speight, Chairman Newport Branch, Merchant Navy Association
Newport Merchant Navy Association