PO Stoker Mechanic Mervyn B. Johnston remembered

 

On the weekend of the 74th. annual anniversary service in Chatham to remember the loss of HMS Truculent on 12th Jan 1950, Frank Hayes, a Standard Bearer for the Gosport Branch of the Submariners Association, took it upon himself to organise a small service in memory of PO Stoker Mechanic Mervyn Johnston who lost his life in that tragic accident. Frank was joined by a fellow veteran Soapy Watson and and friend Ian Chase and they tidied up Mervyn's grave in Anne's Hill Cemetery, Gosport. They piped the still, observed a two-minute silence and said the Lord's Prayer. The Gosport Branch are grateful to Frank, Soapy and Ian for making the effort to conduct this small service in memory of Mervyn. 

 

(Article written by Ron Gordon)

 

(Footnote, most of the crew and dockyard workers who were on board Truculent when she was lost managed to abandon ship after the collision but were swept away by the tide in the very cold water with many reaching one or more of the local mud banks but perishing before they could be located. Les Catlin)