Merchant Navy Memorial - Marine Parade, Dover, UK
N 51° 07.430 E 001° 19.055
31U E 382263 N 5664941
On a lawned area that runs along Marine Parade, in Dover, are several memorials mainly related to the Second World War. One of these is the Merchant Navy memorial that has a sculpture of a Merchant Navy seaman. The BBC reported its unveiling.
Waymark Code: WMR26K
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/01/2016
Views: 2
In an article dated September 2008 the BBC website reported:
Tribute to Merchant Navy war dead.
A memorial to commemorate sailors killed on merchant ships in World War II has been unveiled in Dover.
The 3m (9.8ft) high sculpture was opened in Marine Parade by Winston Spencer Churchill, the grandson of Britain's wartime leader.
About 34,000 merchant seamen were killed or reported missing at sea.
Donald Hunter, the founder of the Dover and District Merchant Navy Memorial, raised £46,000 for the sculpture which depicts a merchant seaman.
The monument faces the western docks harbour entrance.
Mr Hunter, who served in the merchant navy as a radio officer during the war, said: "I felt very angry that all those men, many of whom I saw perish, were just forgotten."
One in three of the merchant seamen who worked during the war never came home and 4,500 ships were lost.
Mr Churchill said: "But for their courage and sacrifice these islands would have been starved into submission and the history of the world would be totally different."
About 400 people attended the event at 1100 BST on Wednesday, 69 years to the day after the war began.
There was a parade of veterans' standards led by the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas prior to the unveiling ceremony.
The bronze sculpture, by Vivien Mallock, is larger than life-size and depicts a Merchant Navy seafarer, wearing a uniform jacket an cap. He is holding a pair of binoculars that are ready to be raised to his eyes. The statue stands on a grey, granite plinth that is inscribed on all four sides.
The south face, that facing the sea, is inscribed:
In Remembrance of
Merchant Navy Seamen who lost their lives
in World War II - 1939-1945
They sustained heavy losses,
1 in 3 Merchant Navy Seamen
did not survive the war.
Merchant Navy Seamen killed: 30, 248
Missing: 4,654
Wounded: 4,707
Prisoner of War: 5,720
Total of Casualties: 45,329
Look out to sea and say a prayer
for those who rest beneath,
they gave their lives, that you may share
a Europe that is free
Donald Hunter, 2008
Wikipedia tells us about the UK Merchant Navy:
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). King George V bestowed the title of "Merchant Navy" on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in the First World War; a number of other nations have since adopted the title.