The 6 June ceremonies in Portsmouth and Ver-sur-Mer commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy Landings made little or no mention of the huge sacrifice and contribution made by the Fourth Service, the Merchant Navy.
Operation Neptune, in which 864 merchant vessels and 25,000 merchant seamen were deployed as the landings and support part of Operation Overlord, officially ended on 30 June 1944, although seaborn support for the landings continued till the port of Le Havre was liberated on 12 September 1944. Twenty-seven merchant ships were lost during this period.
The North Wales Branch of the Merchant Navy Association is attempting to redress this lack of recognition by seeking out the names of any veteran, whether deceased or living, who took part in Operation Neptune and lived at the time in North Wales.
We intend to pay tribute to any such surviving veteran or their immediate relatives at our Merchant Navy Day commemorative service on 1 September in Llandudno. If you would like to take part or have a name you would like us to remember, contact us at mnanorthwales@gmail.com
Mike Ridehalgh
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