Battle of the Atlantic Remembered

[Antipodean Andy]

My wife's grandfather, as everyone except Barnsey knows, was a DEMS gunner and certainly had his pay stopped when his ship/s sunk. Barnsey, he was on the Viceroy of India and on at least two other ships from what we can determine but no other names yet. He may have been torpedoed twice. I still haven't applied for service records.

[Hugh]

Hello Andy,
I was wondering how you had progressed with Frank. I think last time I advised that he was a merchant seaman but looking back on the crew agreement he is listed as a Deck Hand in other words a DEMS gunner.

He would not have had his pay stopped, Andy. As a member of HM Forces he would be paid no matter what his circumstances. It was different for the ordinary merchant seaman who had to find another ship and quick or it was no pay. This was the case until they developed the Pool system which paid seamen to be available to man ships.

Regards
Hugh

[Antipodean Andy]

Ah, of course, good point, Hugh. I haven't touched on this for a while. Really need to sort it out.

[spidge]

Originally Posted by barnsey

Was I right about the pay being stopped in the early part of the war after their ship was sunk? Stan May wrote extensively ....I'll get the details off him again.

My very best regards

Belated welcome Barnsey!

I have discussed this quite alot over the past few years and also with Hugh.

99.9% of people would be unaware of the despicable way these brave men were treated when their ships were sunk.

Hugh's quote of:

Their pay was stopped before the ship hit the bottom

is spot on the money.

We had a Russian chap (visitor) on another forum who when told of the brave men who sailed to Murmansk with supplies for the Russian people, responded with:

We didn't need your second hand supplies, we wanted a second front

Whilst bomber command was "recognized" for their efforts to a degree, I put them in a similar position to the MM's.

Who would want to do that trip across the Atlantic knowing that you could be blown out of the water at any minute.

The lads from bomber command climbed on board night after night knowing their chances of returning were very poor indeed.

With respect to the Merchant Navy/Marine, Hugh said it all - Too little, Too late.