Arctic Convoys - WW II

[Pelican]

WW2 veteran Jack celebrates centenary with Plymouth sailors

See - https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... th-sailors

[Pelican]

WW2 veteran Jack celebrates centenary with Plymouth sailors

See - https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... th-sailors

Plymouth WW2 veteran celebrates 100th birthday

Jack served in every theatre of war – Atlantic, Arctic, Mediterranean and, finally, the Far East

Continues at - https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p ... th-8855144

[Pelican]

23rd Destroyer Flotilla Song

This song was written by Jock Cunningham, #1 of Savage (a ship commanded back then by my former neighbour “Ticky” Malins whose memoir I published some years ago, “Away Seaboat”) and Lt. Dickie Birks RCNVR. It took root beyond the 23rd. Destroyer Flotilla, Scorpion, Savage, Saumarez and Stord. The four destroyers that attacked the Scharnhorst 80 years ago this Boxing Day past, December 26th 1943. Had it not been for two of Scorpion’s hits there is a good chance Scharnhorst would have escaped.

(Others of the 23rd. were Swift, Svenner, Serapis & Scourge, these were not at the Battle of North Cape, Swift and Svenner were lost off the beaches of the Normandy Invasion)

The song of the 23rd, sometimes referred to as “The Arctic Lament”, became popular with many of those suffering the slings and arrows (bombs and torpedoes) of Arctic Convoy escort duties.

I have spoken with Tony Ditcham who is the last man left who was actually there when this song was written, the survivors of the 23rd. used to meet at Portsmouth annually for a flotilla reunion at which they sang their song. Their last reunion was in 2005 when they decided they were too old and too few to continue.

I sneaked in the photo of Kenneth More as in the picture he is playing the part (In The Longest Day) of Captain Colin Maud whose ship HMS Somali was torpedoed in the Barents Sea, September 24th 1942 returning from PQ18, and then towed 600 kms towards Iceland by Ashanti before breaking in two in a violent storm, Maud was the only living survivor pulled from the sea by Ashanti, he went on to be Beachmaster on Sword Beach, D-day, this year’s big anniversary). Ashanti is also pictured, not all the photos are from the Arctic.

I told my friends at Trinity College of Music about him, and the song, the words to which I sent them a while back. On Boxing Day I received from them a Christmas MP4, the song sung by a group of the students much the same age as Tony back then. This is history as it was lived by those who were there. Brits, Canadians, Arctic convoy men of the Sea.

I hope we can forward it to our ships, and Canadians, currently in the Arctic, the Sea doesn’t change.
One way or another, I hope you enjoy it.
Tim

Go to - https://vimeo.com/899255308?share=copy

[Pelican]

Arctic Echoes with music on Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/430886147

Dear All, please share as you see fit,
Some of you will have seen this before but there’s no harm in seeing it again; this is the “souvenir book” we made for the visit of Princess Anne and Admiral Lawrence to Archangelsk to mark the anniversary of the safe arrival of the very first convoy (August 31st. 1941) bringing support to Russia in WWII, something they might benefit from a reminder of as well.
That first convoy of 12 ships was called operation Dervish but it was accompanied by an equally important parallel operation called Benedict; Dervish brought 500 RAF people, Wing 151, to Archangelsk with crated Hurricanes and all their crews to reassemble and train the Russians to maintain and operated them. Benedict was the old and redoubtable carrier Argus with another squadron of Hurricanes that flew directly into front line service at Vaenga, Murmansk. The book, illustrated by the wonderful former RN aircraft handler Jim Rae, begins with a song by Anne Shelton dedicated to those who flew from the carrier and into battle from Vaenga airfield, basically packed snow rolled flat. One of those pilots who lifted off from the Argus was Tim Elkington, he also went to Archangelsk with a large group of British veterans for the anniversary to cheer the memory of their great adventure. Tim had been a Battle of Britain pilot before going to Russia, on returning to Britain he volunteered to be a convoy Camship pilot. These were very brave men who were blasted off merchant ships on a one-way mission in adapted Hurricanes to shoot down enemy bombers before ditching in the sea hoping to be picked up by an escort. He told me he didn’t read the fine print!
In the book are quotations from veterans who served in the Arctic campaign, every word is verbatim, reproduced in English and Russian.
All the events depicted are real, all the words are real, as we only made 200 copies of the print book we have preserved Jim’s work, and the sentiments of the campaign in this short tribute. Almost all those who went to Russia for that reunion are gone now, very soon all this will pass over the horizon of living memory so in its own way, this is a salute to what they did.
Towards the end of the book are the words to the 23rd Flotilla song, this was very kindly restored to human voice by the students of Trinity College of Music for Christmas 2023 as a gift to one of the very last survivors of that destroyer flotilla. Here it is…..
23rd Destroyer Flotilla Song (vimeo.com) - https://vimeo.com/899255308

This is best seen on a big screen, easier to read the text, I recommend a full glass to toast these heroes and remember them as the young men they were 80 years ago

Tim

[Note that, amongst others, that there links to 2 other videos within the above:
https://vimeo.com/307304106 - When the Russian vets came over and visited Loch Ewe from where most of the Artic Convoys departed.
https://vimeo.com/182854940 - The voyage of the Ashanti when she visited the Gold Coast, pre WW II.]