Seamens Memorial Leith

[golach]

I had the good fortune to be fit enough to attend the Service of Dedication, the march and the unveiling of a Memorial to all Scottish Merchant Seamen in Leith today. The Princess Royal did the unveiling, a good few hundred persons attended, Lord Provosts, Commodores, Major Generals, and Air Vice Marshals and more braid than you could shake a stick at, but best of all for me, was when I discovered I was marching beside the Caithness Merchant Navy Assiciation contingent, and they kindly let me march along with them, it was lovely till hear them speaking in 'e owld tongue.
Thanks Lads you made this owld mannie proud and happy today, and I never realised Princess Anne was so peedie.

[Garnet]

Sounds brilliant Golach I bet your chest was puffed out with pride, bless. :)

[poppett]

So pleased you were well enough to attend this very special event.

[weedonald]

Good for you Golach.
It has taken far to long for the service and sacrifice, by those who served and died, in the merchant navy to be recognized. Here in Canada it was only within the last few years that those who survived got any benefits and recognition for their service during ww2. The Canadian merchant navy had the highest casualty rate of any the services. September 3 is designated as a day of remembrance now..

I notice after about 20 years or so of not seeing many red ensigns coming into Vancouver , there seems to be an increase of late. Good to see..

[poppett]

Checked out the "Greener Leith" website and the memorial looks amazing. Hope to have time to see it at the end of the month when we are down at the Western.

[susan.leith]

Thank you for flagging this up. I didn't know anything about it, and it's only a 10 minute walk away. From the pics I found online, the memorial looks really interesting - so I'll definitely make a point of going to see it at the weekend. PM me if you want any photos.

[golach]

The Memorial Trust have their own web site

http://www.merchantnavymemorialtrust.org/the-memorial/leith-and-the-sea/

[poppett]

Thank you for that informative link G.