EVEN if a memorial to the Merchant Seamen who lost their lives in WW2 is not erected in Weymouth their service should not be forgotten.

The percentage of seamen who lost their lives was greater in the Merchant Navy than any other service, military or civilian.

Also, unforgivably, regardless as to whether or not the seamen lost his life, on the day his ship was sunk his wages were stopped by the shipowner. As the Minister of War Transport Alfred Barnes said in 1945: “The Merchant Seamen never faltered. To him we owe our preservation and our very lives”.

Capt PWS Whittle

MN Rtd Portland Road Weymouth