RMS LANCASTRIA SINKING - paying respects

zzr1400tim

zzr1400tim

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Hi Folks. we are on the Il d Orelon at the moment and today we had the honour of riding down to Saint Trojan des Bains to pay our respects to a small handful of our brave servicemen that perished during the terrible sinking of the RMS Lancastria 17th June 1940 that claimed over 4,000 plus souls
These few guys are buried in the small local cemetary. Their bodies were recovered by local fishermen and subsequently buried in the local graveyard.
There are only 11 commonweath graves there.
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One of whom is Sgt John Chipchase who is the grandaughter of Michelle (@barryd ) wife
It was great to find Johns final resting place, pay respects and leave a nice little message to him as well from his grandaughter

may you all rest in peace and thanks lads..
 
Such a lovely gesture Tim. Michelle was moved to tears when she saw what you had done with your kind message.

I think apart from us you will be the only people to visit John's grave from the UK since that fateful day in 1940. Lest we forget.

If anyone is interested here's a bit more on the disaster. Nobody really knows how many died but modern estimates reckon 4000-7000. The ship was only supposed to take 1300. When it was hit I guess they never stood a chance.

en.m.wikipedia.org

RMS Lancastria - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Well done lad, not an easy thing to do, brought not a few tears to my eyes as I read it to Liz.
Click to expand...
cheers Kev. I am not ashamed to admit that I was also choked up as we walked away from the graves :cry:.
When Barry told me that Michelles grandad was buried there along with a few others I just felt it was right and proper to visit his grave.
All John Chipchase wanted, as well as the others that perished, was to return home to his family..
unfortunately this was sadly denied :(
a footnote.
My paternal grandad was part of the BEF and was evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk
John Chipchase was one of the vital Royal Army Service Corps that kept the combantant troops supplied with food, fuel and everything (apart from ammunition) They were cut off from the BEF and had to withdraw south via St Nazaire where he met his end on the ill fated Lancastria..
 
It's something
zzr1400tim said:
cheers Kev. I am not ashamed to admit that I was also choked up as we walked away from the graves :cry:.
When Barry told me that Michelles grandad was buried there along with a few others I just felt it was right and proper to visit his grave.
All John Chipchase wanted, as well as the others that perished, was to return home to his family..
unfortunately this was sadly denied :(
a footnote.
My paternal grandad was part of the BEF and was evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk
John Chipchase was one of the vital Royal Army Service Corps that kept the combantant troops supplied with food, fuel and everything (apart from ammunition) They were cut off from the BEF and had to withdraw south via St Nazaire where he met his end on the ill fated Lancastria..
Click to expand...

It's just incompressible to imagine the scale of such a disaster. I think they tried to cover it up for a while. So many lost in one sinking. Michelle's mum was just two when he died. I loved my grandad and Grandma and they were a huge part of my life but many like Michelle never got to meet theirs.
 
There is no shame Tim, no shame at all, millions died so that we may live, they volunteered their lives and blood our few tears are hardly adequate by comparison and most were little more than boys.

They should put the generals up front, wars would be much shorter I think then.
 
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