THE sacrifice of the Merchant Navy sailors who provided Britain’s lifeline through two world wars was marked with a memorial service and flag raising ceremony in Ross-on-Wye.

Merchant Navy Day is officially on September 3, and the remembrance organised by the town and district’s Royal British Legion branch was held at the end of the week on Sunday (September 6).

Among those attending a service at St Mary’s church was former Merchant Navy man Peter Harness who served on the Arctic convoys during the war.

The national day which sees the Red Ensign flown from council buildings and other landmarks honours all seafarers, but particularly those who kept us and our Allies supplied on the Atlantic and Russian convoys in the 1939-1945 war.

In total, 36,749 Merchant Navy sailors were lost to enemy action, 5,720 were taken prisoner and 4,707 were wounded.

Without the efforts of the service and their sacrifice to keep us afloat in our most dangerous hour, we would have lost the war.

Mr Harness, who received the Arctic Star from Prime Minister David Cameron in 2013 and was also honoured by France with the Chevalier Ordre National de la Légion d’honneur, joined Ross-on-Wye deputy mayor Cllr John Winder, RBL chairman Graham Aplin and other former service people at the memorial service, which was taken by RBL branch padre Rev Sean Semple, rector of St Mary’s.

Rev Semple told them: “In 2020, it’s very easy to become discouraged… (but) today we can hold before us the inspirational example of the Merchant Navy during the two world wars.

“We remember and honour their courage, perseverance, dedication to duty and sacrifice as they supplied food, raw material, ammunition, fuel and troops to where they were most needed to ensure an Allied victory.

“Let us not forget that that victory came at great cost to the Merchant Navy with a casualty rate of over 25 per cent.

“In the Second World War alone there were 47,176 casualties including those from the 85 vessels of the Arctic convoys sunk.

“At this time of pandemic, our society needs essential supplies of volunteering, of reaching out to the anxious and isolated, of practical assistance to the shielding and homebound.

“We need optimism and an indomitable can-do attitude. The example and sacrifice of Jesus Christ is before us today and so too is the example and service and sacrifice of the Merchant Navy.”

The Red Ensign was then taken to a flag raising ceremony beside the town’s nearby Market Hall.

A video of the service can be watched on St Mary’s Church Facebook page.