HMS Dasher 80th anniversary
The words: “We will remember them” were particularly poignant last Saturday at the 80th anniversary service held in memory of the victims of the HMS Dasher which perished in March 1943 in the Firth of Clyde.
Taking place at the memorial plaque at the Brodick ferry terminal, members of the HMS Dasher Association, who lost relatives in the tragedy, Royal British Legion Scotland, along with serving seamen and veterans, paid their respects at a short service conducted by Church of Scotland reader Liz Clarke.
A large contingent from the mainland had boarded the MV Isle of Arran in Ardrossan and on their way to Brodick held a service on the top deck of the ferry.
With the assistance of CalMac, the boat sailed over the exact spot, five miles from the Cumbrae lighthouse, where the ship went down.
The crew turned off the engines during the service before wreaths and flowers were thrown into the sea.
When they alighted at Brodick, the second short service was held at which wreaths were laid at the HMS Dasher memorial by Arran retired submariner Alan Milligan, on behalf of Arran Veterans, and Boab McDougall of the Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenson branch of the Royal British Legion.
They then re-boarded the 11.05am sailing from Brodick, which waited for them, to return to the mainland.
On Sunday, a special parade and remembrance service was held at the HMS Dasher memorial in Ardrossan.
HMS Dasher was a converted aircraft carrier which mysteriously exploded on March 27 1943, during the second world war, in the Clyde between Arran and Ardrossan. Of the 528 crew on board, 379 lost their lives and the remains of the carrier lie 140 metres below the waters in the Firth of Clyde.
The site is a designated official war grave.
However, only 23 were given official burials, and families of the sailors killed say they have been cheated of the truth.
Dame Mary Richardson, aged 87, who attended the Arran service remembering her father George Habgood told BBC News: “There is a feeling they’ve been cheated that they’ve never been given their right to an honest and full answer and I think that has to come.
“Far from dying out, it is as strong as it ever was.”