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The merchant seamen never faltered. He sailed voyage after voyage, perhaps on occasions changing the North Atlantic for the North Russia or Malta. To him we owe our preservation and our very lives.
Alfred Barnes
Minister of War Transport, September, 1945.
Alway's remembered:
Britain could not produce enough food to feed all its people.
It needed raw materials from abroad to run its industries. If the merchant Navy could not bring these things into Britain by sea, the war would be lost.
Quote:
"It’s a bit difficult for us now, trying to gain an insight into what was going on in the Battle of the Atlantic… During the war the role of the U-boat sailor was a much-despised one. They were thought of as pirates and that sort of thing, but when we talk to people on both sides now, it’s almost as if they were talking about a football match; everything’s jolly and very friendly. It’s hard to realize that all those years ago these same people were at sea trying to kill each other".
Otto Kretchner, commander of U-99, speaking in 1994.
K.
Thanks for the comments about recognition for the MN ww2 .They seem to be the same theme of all of them .The first time i got my MN badge a kid of nearly 15 years old i really thought i was made i have a photo taken in early 1941 with a cigarette stuck in my gob and my badge sticking out .My ex shipmate Johnny Mcnab was also on the photo we was as proud a punch ,now i wear my MN veterans badge with th same proud feeling .
There was at that time a magistrate in Southampton who had a daugher potted by a merchant seaman. As a result he was death on any Seaman who came before him no matter how small the offence.Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Tindell
But the sad thing is many a merchant seaman went off on a voyage during the war knowing in his heart thta he may become a casualty, yet still they went, to do what they could for their country. Stand up and salute them one and all.