SIR — The media has spent a considerable amount of time talking about the Battle of Britain and the RAF personnel who fought and died fighting the Luftwaffe.
This subject is right and proper and our children should be made aware of the efforts made by their grandparents in their brave efforts to keep this land free.
Now the thing that bothers me greatly is that during that period of time, another Battle of Britain was being fought, and the men fighting it suffered terrible losses far worse than any of the three fighting services.
The losses of those brave men were calculated in terms of three in five, the other services were about one in ten.
In real numbers, the fighting services were counted in hundreds of thousands. In the case of the Merchant Navy I think they numbered only about 36,000.
On Sunday September 5, the surviving veterans gathered near Tower Hill, London, at their Memorial to honour those that were lost. I refer of course to the Merchant Navy seamen and officers. But unfortunately there was no media coverage.
Surely our children should be made aware of these brave men who died, went missing or were injured as they fought not only the human enemy but the forces of nature that they fight every time they put to sea.
Please, make no mistake, no matter how big or strong the ship is, the sea is always powerful enough to sink it if it is not handled properly by the crew.
Surely our island nation, both adult and children, should be reminded of these brave men who take their ships to sea.
Don't be misled by the fact we have the Channel Tunnel in times of conflict the enemy can destroy or block it very easily. Remember we are an island nation and cannot survive without a merchant fleet and for that matter neither can the world.
Captain T J Sax (M N Retired),
Tivington.