This is the time of year that the British public takes time to remember those who have served their country.
The three armed services are in our minds but an 86-year-old Wellensian will be remembering a less well known group who the country could not have done without during the Second World War.
Jack Day travelled the world with the Merchant Navy during the war, keeping vital supply lines open despite the threat from German U-boats.
Around 30,000 sailors lost their lives during the Battle of the Atlantic, a conflict which Winston Churchill said was "the dominating factor all through the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea or in the air depended ultimately on its outcome".
For his 85th birthday a friend of his, Keith Stott, 81, from Stoke St Michael, who served in the Merchant Navy after the war, composed a poem to these unsung heroes.
Mr Day's daughter, Jacqui Walmsley, said: "This poem means so very much to my dad that he has also asked Keith to do another copy for him with the drawings of the Merchant Navy Badge and Flag, so he can lay it with a small cross at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day to remember the Merchant Navy."
Unsung Heroes
Thru the moonlit sea the "Gloucester City" ploughs.
The look-out huddles coldly in the bows
Staring into the night ahead,
While in his stomach an awful dread.
And down below in the ocean deep
Silently the U-Boats creep
Up on the bridge the old helmsman peers
Checking the compass course he steers.
Southwest by west the Second Mate said,
He thinks of the comfort of his bed
And down below in the ocean deep
Silently the U-Boats creep
Down in the bunkers the Trimmers go
Keeping the Firemen supplied with coal.
Sweat runs down the Donkeymans brow
A cool pint of "Georges" would slide down now
And down below in the ocean deep
Silently the U-Boats creep.
In his bunk the Deck Boy dreams of home
Of the Bristol Docks he loved to roam.
As to the surface U one nine three
Periscope scanning the heaving sea.
And down below in the ocean deep
Silently the U-boats creep
Swiftly the deadly Tinfish sped
Toward the old "Gloucester" dead ahead
Yellow flame lit up the Atlantic sky
Some brave seamen were soon to die
And down below in the ocean deep
Silently the U-boars creep
Now the Atlantic Battle has long since past
The Red Dusters almost at half mast
But still "Old Vindi Boys" like me
Remember and honour those "Men of the Sea"
And down below in the Ocean deep
Old ships rust while Sailors sleep.
See our What's On section for details of Remembrance Day events.
