Guernsey Press

Service remembers loss of 504 wartime sailors

A PARADE led by the Band of HM Royal Marines was cancelled due to bad weather yesterday, but the event at which they were due to appear went ahead regardless.

Published
The short, impromptu service at Le Foulon was led by the Very Rev. Canon Marc Trickey. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 19400842)

The band had been due to lead a procession down to Le Foulon Cemetery, where the annual service remembering the loss of HMS Charybdis and HMS Limbourne took place.

Veterans and relatives of those who were on board the ships instead took part in a short, impromptu, parade down 50 yards or so of the main road, ahead of entering the cemetery for the service.

Led by the Very Rev. Canon Marc Trickey, the hymns Oh God Our Help in Ages Past and Eternal Father Strong to Save were sung, accompanied by the Salvation Army band, and there were also readings and prayers.

Canon Trickey reminded the audience of the circumstances surrounding the night of 23 October 1943, when the two ships were sunk with the loss of 504 crew.

While some bodies from the tragedy washed up in France and Jersey, 21 were washed ashore in Guernsey and were buried at Le Foulon. In a famous display of solidarity and defiance, some 5,000 islanders attended the burial ceremony organised by the occupying Nazi forces.

Full story in today's Guernsey Press