REMEMBERING THE FALLEN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2017 :: RMTnews 28 R MT national secretary Steve Todd received the Merchant Navy Medal for Meritorious Service at a ceremony last month last month. He attended Trinity House, London, for the Merchant Navy Medal ceremony, of which the union is a founding member. The medal ceremony was well attended and some 26 medals for Meritorious Service were awarded by Princess Anne. His citation highlighted his ‘exemplary’ commitment to seafarer welfare and increasing employment and training opportunities for ratings. He first went to sea in 1972 as a deck boy with the Blue Funnel Line and went on to serve as an able seaman and bosun with a number of other companies. “I first got involved with the union when I got into a bit of trouble and decided I wanted to put something back and became a rep,” he said. Steve said that he was very proud to be one of the recipient's this year for services to seafarers. “It coincided with my 45 years membership of the union and 45 years involvement and commitment to our industry. “It is a very timely reminder that there are others out there who have served this industry well that are equally if not more deserving of this honour. “I hope that branches take the opportunity to nominate them next year full details are available from the website,” he said. MERCHANT MEDAL AWARD R MT was represented at the Remembrance Sunday memorial service in Trinity Square Gardens, London in November which recognised the sacrifice of more than 40,000 UK merchant seafarers lost during two world wars and subsequent conflicts. RMT general secretary Mick Cash and national secretary Steve Todd laid a wreath on behalf of the union. “We all owe a great deal of gratitude to those seafarers that lost their lives during conflict. Particularly the over 30,000 Merchant seafarers that were lost keep this country fed during the Nazi onslaught and supplying the Soviet Union throughout the dark days of World War Two,” Mick Cash said. The Artic convoys began in August 1941 running to the Arctic port of Murmansk until the end of the war. The northern route of less than 2,500 miles was practical, but it crossed the cruellest sea of all, the Arctic Ocean. Sailing around the northern tip of Norway, the convoys would also be exposed to one of the largest concentrations of German U-boats, surface raiders and aircraft anywhere in the world. Strict orders forbade the halting of any ship for even a moment for fear of being attacked by prowling German U-boats. Each delivery of arms was an epic achievement, described as undertaking the impossible. The monument near Tower Hill station lists all those who died in those conflicts and lists the ships lost as well as the trawlers of fisherman that continued to work in order to feed Britain during the Second World War. REMEMBERING THE FALLEN REMEMBER THEM: RMT general secretary Mick Cash, RMT national secretary Steve Todd and Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson lay wreaths at Trinity Square Gardens, Tower Hill London. REMEMBER THEM: Serving and retired RMT members attended the Remembrance Day memorial service in Sunderland led by Royal Fleet Auxiliary CPO Ian Parkin.