If anyone wants to quote MN war casualties for future reference, please use the following:
I have been compiling casuaties lost from British & Commonwealth Merchant ships for many years and although the true figure will never be know, the figures below will be as close as any you will ever find.... to date.
Tower Hill Memorial 23,753
Buried Ashore 2,594
Canadian 1,554 (Halifax & Tower Hill Memorial)
Bombay/Chittagong Memorial 6,048.
Hong Kong War Memorial 1,400.
Liverpool Naval Memorial 1,400 (Merchant Seamen who served on RN vessels under the T124T & T124X Agreements)
Australian War Memorial 359.
Royal Navy DEMS 3,000.
DEMS Maritime Regt. 1,222.
DEMS from other Army Regt's 50.
Naval Staff 699.
A HMSO study published in 1955 "Merchant Shipping & the Demands of War" also states that as many as 11,600 Merchant Seamen between 1942-1944 died shortly after leaving their ship, or whose lives were permanently damaged, either physically or mentally. Also the qualification for war grave status, unlike the members of the three armed services differs considerably for the Merchant Navy. After nearly three years research and reading through 4,716 digital pages of the 1938-1945 Deaths at Sea Register, I have documented the names of a further 5,361 men from all corners of the British Commonwealth who died in service in the Merchant Navy during WWII and have up until now been forgotten and have no official commemoration due to the circumstances of their deaths. Without trying to be too controvercial, when you consider there are ten British soldiers commemorated on the Brookwood War Memorial who were hung for murder during WWII who due to the fact they were in uniformed service, automatically qualifed for war grave status, suggests something is wrong. It would probably take an Act of Parliament to ammend the rules the Commonwealth War Graves Commision are governed by, which one again raises the old adage that the Merchant Navy are and always will be the "Forgotton Fourth Service"
"Lest We Forget"
Originally posted by Deepsea
http://www.merchant-navy.net/forum/m...tml#post137015
