A WREATH from Callington’s Royal British Legion was among those placed at the foot of a memorial to merchant seamen on The Hoe in Plymouth yesterday.
A ceremony was held to mark Merchant Navy Day, the first such event since the new memorial was unveiled on Merchant Navy Day in September 2019.
The striking monument stands alongside others on the Hoe and has more impact than an existing, much smaller memorial set into the wall across from the Mayflower Steps on the Barbican. In addition, groups can much more easily congregate at the new location.
The group behind the Plymouth memorial said: “Almost everything that those living in the UK own or use, be it food, fuel, clothing, cars, and almost every thing else, has travelled into the UK by sea either as raw material or ready manufactured.
“Without ships there would be no food or goods in the shops, no fuel for public transport or cars, no medicines, no undersea cables for internet and telecommunications - the essentials for life would disappear.
“Be it in peace or war we all owe a debt to the seafarer.”