Forgotten heroes of World War II
I CoMMEND Wing Commander Wright for his efforts and admire him for his DFC, but must take issue with his assertion that only 3,000 Merchant Navy men were lost throughout World War II (Letters). He may mean just in the Arctic Convoys, in his context — fair enough — but the public might not realise that the scale of the losses was in tens of thousands, as in Bomber Command. If Mr Wright cares to visit Trinity House Gardens, in London, he will find the names of 32,000 Merchant Navy personnel inscribed thereon — lives lost in World War II, the youngest of whom was just 14 years old. In addition, it is estimated that another 5,000 lost have not been traced. The only known grave for all these men is the sea. Additionally, if you take into account all the Commonwealth countries that supplied men for the British Merchant Navy, you will find that the total number of those who gave their lives for this country was more than 57,000. Wg Cdr Wright should also remember that if it wasn’t for these brave men serving in unarmed Merchant Navy (and thus highly vulnerable to submarines and aircraft attack) tankers and cargo vessels, neither the bombers nor the fighters would have been able to leave the ground. They would have neither the fuel nor armaments to carry out their tasks. While I appreciate his efforts to get his comrades in arms their just rewards, I also think that he owes the men of the Merchant Navy credit for what they went through. My late father was one of these. He may like to lay a wreath at his local war memorial on September 3, which is National Merchant Navy Day of remembrance for the 57,000 Merchant Seamen who gave their lives keeping the food and fuel lines open during World War II. The date is chosen because a MN sailor was the first casualty of the war on that opening day. He should also remember that the Merchant Navy was in attendance at every beachhead landing throughout the war, keeping our troops supplied with all the necessary equipment, fuel and food to enable them to perform their duties, as well as transporting them there. More than 3,000 Merchant vessels were also in the D-Day landings.
IVAN CLOHERTY (Merchant Navy rtd), Torquay, Devon.