Merchant Navy Day- My Dad

It’s been 3 years since the annual celebration for Merchant Navy Day has taken place in public. The day is celebrated on the closest Sunday to the 3rd September. Hubby and I go to London Trinity Square and meet my Dad, sister and BIL there.

Dad is now 97 years young, he joined The Prince of Wales Sea Training School back in October 1939.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1hSPywFnF2s-g3i26UEVhO6be_sF4jQap 

During the Second World War 4,700 British flagged ships were sunk and 29,000 merchant seaman died. Of those my Dad was on eight ships in total, Four of which were torpedoed, one was sunk and another one scrapped all by January 1946.

 https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=11wo_LFVhfJY8O3Q91pWZCIT1cNrgeh53

As I’m sure you can all imagine,  how immensely proud my whole family are of him. To insure he is able to get to Trinity Square once a year is the least we can do. Now we have moved to Hayling Island the journey is a little longer and our day starts early but of course I am reliant on my carers to get me up and ready for the day.

We left home at 09:20 and made our way into London, luckily we were up to see the super bloom display at The Tower of London just three weeks ago so knew exactly where to find some disabled parking spaces nearby. We made our way to the gardens at Trinity Square and met my sister. Dad and BIL were lining up at the muster point. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1lKwX1LISu_cvXh9LCfvlryyR1biIoQyd 

The service is always a perfect way to celebrate The Merchant Navy service men and women who have been lost over the years. A special memorial had been added to the garden to commemorate forty years since the end of The Falklands War.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1TGmZgqEG740h4FDVtiktoRGKjjtIby2a
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Xk0V9JzCYF5RuN02F8kRwmcwpBRweN6V
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1fYuEgVGGJHHdUvnv_NTspFR4uJKn8_9U

After the parade we always meet up with one of the other Seafarers and have a bite to eat at the local Pizza Express, it’s always good to know where the accessible restaurants are!https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=18TPPB8EVDq6ev0EbfJdqjEY2RcvvxVNC Dad’s mate M carrying the Prince of Wales Sea Training School Standard. https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1HvQc4Yyw5YiqOpw5fSO7Bcunpy_xCBUZ
Dad’s medals from The Second World War. I know this blog post has nothing to do with my MS but I do like to make a point of thanking everyone for everything they have done for us. I don’t believe we would be living the lives we do without the sacrifices they made. If anyone is interested my Dad wrote his own account of his war years which can be found below. Dad's Blog

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 20, 2022 at 1:12 PM

    Wow. Special times and totally right to celebrate and share experiences of others who have supported you and of course you should too. Thank you to your Dad. 👏👏👏

    ReplyDelete

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