Some 45,000 British and Commonwealth Seafarers perished during two world wars.
Merchant Navy Day was established in 2000 by HM Government and is on 3rd September each year, the anniversary of the start of the Second World War. While the Red Ensign, the flag of the British Merchant Navy, flies permanently over the national Merchant Navy Memorial in Trinity Square Gardens on Tower Hill in London EC3, it is flown in tribute that day on public and maritime buildings across the UK.
My thanks for the Whittlesey Branch of The British Legion, which for the past 10 years have flown The Red Ensign at the Whittlesey War Memorial.
Roy Gerstner served for some 25 years in the Merchant Navy, supported 4 war conflicts around the world with the international Red Cross and sailed over 1,000,000 nautical miles.
