The wreck of the Lancastria should be an official war grave, in recognition of the 4,000 lives lost in June 1940

 

Sir, We have written to the minister for veterans, Mark Lancaster, to ask him to do what he can to ease the suffering of families who continue to grieve after the sinking of the troopship HMT Lancastria, the 16,000-tonne liner that was sunk off the coast of France by German bombs on June 17, 1940, taking with her around 4,000 men, women and children. Many of those who perished were British troops, coming to the end of their participation in the Battle of France; others were French and Belgian civilian refugees. This tragedy was the worst maritime catastrophe in Britain's history, and was also the largest single loss of life for British forces in the whole of the Second World War.

 

The sinking may have happened 75 years ago, but to those who still grieve it is not a dim and distant memory. The sadness of children orphaned that day who are still alive, remains, and is exacerbated by the fact that Lancastria has never been given the status of official war grave by the British government. Furthermore, these relatives do not have a clear understanding of what happened as documentary evidence, they are told, remains unavailable; and possibly will not be revealed until 2040, which is of no comfort; indeed it adds to their distress as the relatives, themselves, will not be alive.

 

There are memorials to remember Lancastria - one in St Nazaire in France, near where she sank, another in Glasgow where she was built, a further one at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, Staffordshire, and there is a stained-glass window at St Katharine Cree Church in London. The French people, and their government, have done much to ensure Lancastria is remembered, for which the families are most grateful. However, I have asked the minister if more can be done by the British government to treasure the memory of British troops who died on Lancastria. Hundreds of children were orphaned that day, and Fiona Symon, chair of the Lancastria Association of Scotland, lost her father, Andrew Richardson. Symons' mother passed away in 1992, bitter and sad, feeling that her husband's life, and those who perished with him, was not valued by the country for which they had died.

 

The timing of the disaster could not have been worse. The six-week Battle of France was coming to an end; in that time Germany seized Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and finally, on June 18, France. The loss of men and materiel for the Allies was catastrophic; and the Battle of Britain had not even begun. It is not surprising, therefore, that when Lancastria sank Winston Churchill took out an injunction on the British press, preventing news of the disaster being released to an already demoralised British public.

However, there is no need now for this tragedy to remain a secret. Seventy-five years later, as we commemorate other battles of the Second World War and particularly VE Day, I hope that the British government, through the offices of the Prime Minister, may be able to consider designating the wreck of the Lancastria an official war grave, in recognition of the lives lost in 1940, many of whom were troops of the British Expeditionary Force. I hope, too, that families still deeply affected by this tragedy may finally receive the comfort of knowing all there is to know about what happened. Even though the British troops who died that day were only part of the war effort for a tragically short time, they played their role in the saving of our nation, and deserve to be remembered.

 

Victoria Panton Bacon, editor and co-author with Alastair Panton of Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer; Fiona Symon,chairwoman of the Lancastria Association of Scotland; Brian James Crabb, author of The Forgotten Tragedy - The Story of the Sinking of HMT Lancastria; Harry and Jacqueline Tanner,Lancastria Association of Scotland; Lieutenant Commander (ret'd) Chris Walsh, Lancastria Association of Scotland; General Lord Dannatt, former head of the British Army; Nicholas Soames, MP, former defence minister; Brigadier Hugh Monro, former Queen's Own Highlander and former Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland; Air Commodore Charles Clarke, former chairman of Bomber Command; Paul Beaver, air power historian and author; Louis de Bernières, author; Joanna Lumley, actress; Elizabeth Halls, editor of Second World War memoirFlying Blind; Richard Bacon, MP; Sarah Hope, campaigner