Convoy Ship

by Michael Lloyd

Many years ago, while on a train, I met a man who had sailed in the convoys of the Second World War. He asked if I had finished with the newspaper that was folded by my side, and that started a conversation. It turned out he had been an able seaman in the Merchant Navy and was waiting to meet some of his old shipmates before going to Tower Hill to pay his respects to fallen comrades. He drew from his pocket a small row of medals which he said he was embarrassed to wear in public as it wasn’t any special commemoration day, but was going to put them on when he arrived at the Merchant Navy memorial.
Then, in a quiet, emotionless voice, he told me a story about a convoy. He said it was just another convoy in the war. It was why he was making his pilgrimage.
With the fall of France in 1940, the UK was alone on the coastline of an enemy-held Europe. To survive and continue the war, it was essential that supplies of food, fuel and war materials were maintained.
The supply lines, whether from the west or the south, transited the Atlantic Ocean and it was here that the German Navy and, as the merchant ships carrying these supplies came closer to the British mainland, the German Air Force concentrated their efforts of interdiction.

520 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 13, 2014