PWSTS Forum for Old Boys, Family and Friends

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: Remembrance Day
Roy


PWSTS Forum Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 43
Date:
Remembrance Day
Permalink  
 


        When we observe Remembrance Day this Sunday. Think of those

      who the public seldom mention.

      The Merchant Navy and Fisheries.

      More than 30,000 men were lost during WW11, of them

      500 were boys aged 14 - 16.

                          ON ALL THE OCEANS WHITE CAPS FLOW

                          YOU DO NOT SEE THE CROSSES ROW ON ROW,

                          BUT THOSE WHO SLEEP BENEATH THE SEA,

                          REST IN PEACE FOR COUNTRY IS FREE.




__________________
Stiffshifter


PWSTS UK Director

Status: Offline
Posts: 2133
Date:
Permalink  
 

Remembering unsung heroes

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.

 

This is Somerset News



__________________


PWSTS Forum Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 1620
Date:
Permalink  
 

250px-INF3-127_War_Effort_Under_the_Red_Duster_they_sustain_our_Island_Fortress.jpg



Attachments
__________________

Cool Colin, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada.



Ex PWSTS Standard Bearer

Status: Offline
Posts: 196
Date:
Permalink  
 

Our Standard will be paraded in the morning at Margate War Memorial.

Anybody who is in the Thanet area, please come over and make yourself known!

"We Will Remember Them"

Roger.

__________________
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.

Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse
Powered by ActiveBoard