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The Arctic Convoys

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in the Second World War. Robert Hall has met the few survivors who

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met on the top-secret voyages. On a narrow road in Scotland's north-

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west Highlands a group of veterans look through the rain-streaked

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windows of their minibus for a glimpse at the landscape they first

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viewed as young men. They wear the white berets which mark their

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service on the Arctic convoys. Four years facing storms, ice and enemy

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attacks as they battled true to re- supply their allies in Russia.

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Sometimes you feel sad because can the ships were lost and you saw

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that you are alive yourself you happen to be one of the lucky ones

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that made it. Churchill called them the bravest men afloat and yet they

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are still fighting to convince their own government that they

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deserve a medal. As we were on the convoys we thought this is health,

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this is absolute hell. But I don't ever want this to almost again. I

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looked back and I saw - that was when it was the proudest moment of

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my life, you know, to have done They are fewer and more frail as

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each year passes. But the calf this wind swept hillside cannot be

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ignored by those who sailed into dangers from which so many never

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returned. (Lament plays) Government the cold did not get you the kpwer

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mans would. It was described ooze a view side mesh are mission, that is

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how bad they were. -- the Germans. I'm 86 and when I went down at 18,

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I remember it. It was a horrible 70 years ago this was crowded with

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ships all waiting to begin as what Churchill described as the "Worst

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journey in the world". The largest convoy taken to Russia is feeling

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its way through the danger belt north of scanned naive yafplt this

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is the roof of the world which saw Antarctic sea battle between Nazis,

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torpedo droppers and submarines. In September 1941 the British Navy

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launched a secret operation code named Derbish. The convoy which

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sailed north-east was the first to plough through trefrp yus Arctic

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waters to the Russian points.. The waep Johns and supplies the German

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described as enough to equip an army. A lifeline to an ally, badly

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in need of supplies and far from the sheltered bays of Loch Hugh.

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This is guarding the Loch during the war and that was their look-

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outpost behind us that and that was the amount nation. John Murdow

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McKenzie then eight years old remembers the ships gathering in

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their last safe Anchorage. There used to be over 100 ships inside

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there at the one time waiting to go on the convoys, to different parts.

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Most going from Russia directly at that time. Exciting times for an 8-

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year-old boy or not? Very. We never thought it was a war, it was just

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great sport. Under these skies young men enjoyed their final hours

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of shore leavinant of the perils which lay ahead. -- leave inant of

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the perils which lay ahead. When we left here I was an hour west. We

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sent off - we set off north and that gale gradually deteriorated

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into a hurricane. I have never seen seas like it. They had been told

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they were sailing into the most dangerous waters in the world. Up

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to a fortnight in the teeth of gales which howled across seas so

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cold they could kill a man in minutes. The seas were so heavy any

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minute you thought you were going to be swallowed up, it was so bad.

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One of the things you had to watch on the look-out, you had your big

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hat an everything on, but if by chance your nose started running

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and you had the sniffles then that would freeze so it was like having

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a nose full of needles, that is how painful it was and its was painful.

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Ice was everywhere on the decks had to be chipped off in case the ship

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turned over. Ice everywhere and not only outside even inside the ship.

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We had 2 in muchs of ice inside the living quarters. So if you lived

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with ice all around us and we went out onto the deck, once again ice,

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and the one thing we had to be careful of that is if you touched

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anything metal with your bare hands then you left your skin behind and

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that was painful. The chill wind whipping the headlands 70 years on

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may stir memories of voyages during which warmth was a painful dream.

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Hymn to the Lost at Sea) But the old men blinking away the rain

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survived more than the Arctic's wintery grip. Hash with the going

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down with the sun an in the morning we will remember them We will

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remember them. Attacks by aircraft and submarines I watched really

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came in right down the columns in some cases sometimes even lower

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than whether I - where I was standing on board the shifplt it

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was nothing to see them go past - the ship. I could even see the

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helmets they were wearing. 2,000 miles the cargo ships and

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their naval escorts were shadowed by an enemy waiting to pounce.

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Exhausted look-outs scanning the waves and the skies but the tell-

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tail signs that could bring death in seconds. And second torpedo hip

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and people were shout sing, few were hurt, you just wanted to jump

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overboard because you thought the ship would sink any minute. I did

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see one ship go down. I came if starboard side and it was just

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landing down, no sign of debris, no sign of survivors and as it went

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down it just smoothed out, you would look back and there was

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nothing there. We never went down below from the time we started to

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the time we finished, never went below. We had stewards bringing us

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up food and drink. (Sirens) They came down one after another and

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there were five bombs aimed at us and certainly all hit the ship and

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one of the bombs went into the cargo hold because we were carrying

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car get as well, and there was ammunition there. And the ship just

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exploded. And I was gone. I don't know if you could imagine metal

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bombing but when the ship was hit and the steel was torn asunder it

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really made the most horrifying screech and made you sick inside

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(Screaming) Panic-stricken, I pulled something up hanging on my

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right arm and it was a body, a chap hanging onto my arm and he had a

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bit of shrapnel ride down the middle of his head. I looked at his

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head, there was nothing I could do for him an he just drifted away.

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You could see it was a large bomb. It was the survivors carried by the

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waves. You heard the crash and people crying for mother, they were

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crying out for their mothers, crying out for help. There was

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nothing else you could do but see the red lights popping up and down.

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I was swimming around and I looked, I could see the ship coming up the

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bend and it just went down like that. I want told the people were

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in the water but nobody answered me, you know? I could not get any

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answers. I looked out to see the outline of a ship, and it was very

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dark, there was a lot of smoke about. I swam towards the ship and

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shouted out - it was very dark, I don't think anybody could see me, I

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shouted out, threw a line over, I grabbed the line and slipped off

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the line and was covered in oil fuel. My hands, my eyes, in my face.

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And I was pushed away if the ship. I thought "Well, that's it". And

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for some reason a wave came along, took me up the side of the ship and

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he grabbed me.. The others were clinging to the rafts. The sea was

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so cold, you had ropes hanging down from these rafts which they would

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cling to and try to pull themselves onto the rafts. They could to do

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this because their hands would slip down the ice so they would slide

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back into the sea. It was undoubt think saddest day in my life. --

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Those who climb this rocky climbs with the veterans do so to honour

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the thousands who never returned to Loch Hugh. (The 'LAST POST' PLAYS)

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Yet, as the bugel sounds once more, there are nagging doubts over had

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the UK has done enough to acknowledge their courage and

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suffering. It is an extraordinary story and they were very, very

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young, and they found themselves in these horrific conditions where

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quite apart from the enemy they had to contend with the cold.

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# Amazing grace, how sweet the sound... They deserve every kind of

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respect, admiration and recognition. In the English port of Harrage a

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pilgramage begins. A friends ship born at a time when supplies from

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overseas helped to bring a nation back if the brink. (Bombing) (Shell

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fire). In 1941, threatened by the German advance Russian forces were

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running desperately short of supplies. The 78 Arctic convoys

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brought four million tonnes of food, munitions and fuel to Russia's

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northern ports. In Mansk where a huge memorial towers above to say

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no one has forgotten the 101 allied vessels which were lost. We cherish

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all the pages of this war. The page of Russian convoys is one of the

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major in the history in the schoolbooks. So our children know

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that and certainly have grown up - and gone-up people remember it or

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were told the stories by people -- grown-up people - were told the

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stories that were witnessed by people like that so I'm quite sure

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it will not be forgotten. Over the years it will be remembered.

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there is more to these reunions than the bands t smiles t flowers,

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the British veterans who bow their heads at the Flame of Remembrance

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wear the bright ribbons of Russian medals awarded by a grateful nation.

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What annoys me and what annoys many of my ship mates, many of the

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veterans is that albeit they thank us all the time, people in the West,

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countries in the West, relatively speaking never seem to appreciate

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that Russia lost 27 million men in the war. I mean, they were giving

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the Tuesday blessings and everything for -- giving us the

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blessings and everything for 3,000- Today on the River Thames in London

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visitors can tour one of the last survivors of the Arctic convoys t

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Light Cruiser HMS Belfast is a way of reminding new generations of hat

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these ships and their crews went through Annette those who have

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survived to tell the stories claim they are still waiting for formal

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recognition of their courage and their sacrifice. Every morning at

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his home overlooking Portsmouth's naval base commander Eddie Grenfell

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now 91 opens fresh emails from those who believe the British

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Government has failed in its duty to the men who served on the Arctic

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run. Commander green felling has spent 15 years leading the campaign

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-- Grenfell -- for a British medal to be awarded It is the only thing

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that has occupied my miefpbltd I can tell you that when I'm -- mind.

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I can tell you that when I'm given duty to carry out thin really

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devote myself to doing the job and that is what I have done with the

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Arctic campaign. I would love if the government saw fit to give us a

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medal. It would gladden my heart in a way. Really, that we had finally

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been recognised and they were awful The veterans who parade at this

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time of remembrance wear campaign medals marking service around the

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world past and present. Services in the Arctic is represented by a

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small badge awarded in 2005 which campaigners regard as inadequate.

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My goodness, we fought for four and a half long years in the Arctic and

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surely we deserve some sort of recognition, certainly not a clasp

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or a badge, a medal like every other campaign. The suffering they

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had was absolutely indescribable. They kept their heads, they kept

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themselves together, I think that as a Group D veterans of the

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convoys are probably more close- knit than you can find than any

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other group of people. The memories are very, very strong and they

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still want to push some of these ideas through. I think that the

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70th anniversary is the moments to do these things. The young men who

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sailed back past the guns at Loch Hugh had survived the froze city of

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Arctic weather, witnessed the destruction of ships, and had lost

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so many close friends. Small wonder that the experiences of their

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journey called them to this day. was on a rescue ship. I prepared

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the dead for burial because quite a few die on this ship. Difficult 200.

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When I joined up it was pride to do my duty and do something tore the

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country. Sometimes I think what I wise to do that, you know? If hi my

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time over, of course I would do it again, yes. Being at sea is not a

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nice thing. You satisfy flag and the service is nice, and there is a

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splash and somebody's life is gone. And I come up here to see this

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stone and I'm actually back there. Just standing at that stofpblt I do

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not see the stone, I see something else -- stone. I see that flag

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being held onto and a man disappearing. The MoD is reviewing

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the veterans request but time is short. Convoys mounted to smash

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their way to the coast. Homebound convoys limp back wounded deaths

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icy grip embraced them most. Europe's storm... Do As Eddie

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