Honoured (From Penarth Times)

Honoured

I WOULD like to thank the Mayor Cllr Emlyn Williams, Council Leader Cllr Jeffrey James, the Rev Malcolm Davies and everyone else involved with the ceremony conferring the freedom of the Vale of Glamorgan on the Merchant Navy Association on April 16.

We could not have asked for more in the way of buffet and refreshments.

The council did us proud.

Also, to my great satisfaction, the monument had received a spring clean and looked fine on the day.

Of course, the real purpose of us being there in the first place was to honour the Merchant Seamen, of whom 35,000 fell victim to U-boats between 1939-45, including nearly 600 from Barry.

These men drowned or perished by exposure in the cruel North Atlantic Ocean.

Neither we, nor our American, Irish, Dutch, Norwegian, Greek or Arab fellow mariners, wore uniform and few have any memorial, but held out against all the odds and the living hell that we endured throughout the war years.

But now, after a lot of campaigning over the years, we have our memorial, so that those who never came home will always be remembered.

And for us, the lucky ones, we have the Freedom of the Vale of Glamorgan.

I feel proud and honoured that after so many years the Merchant Seamen of the Vale have received due recognition.

Homer Wenderling (ex-MN)

Ex-Chairman KSAG

11 Dudley Place

Barry