RMS Lancastria - Remembrance

Remembrance

All service personnel killed during the Second World War are recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and where known that they lost their lives on the Lancastria. 1,816 burials are recorded, over 400 of them in France

After the war the 'Lancastria Survivors Association' was set up by Major Peter Petit, but this lapsed on his death in 1969. It reformed in 1981 as 'The HMT Lancastria Association', it continues the tradition of a parade and remembrance service at the Church of St Katherine Cree in the City of London, where there is a memorial stained glass window. In 2010 the HMT Lancastria Association was wound up. 'The Lancastria Association of Scotland' was formed in 2005 and holds its annual service at St George’s West Church in Edinburgh.

A memorial on the sea-front at St Nazaire was unveiled on 17 June 1988, "in proud memory of more than 4,000 who died and in commemoration of the people of Saint Nazaire and surrounding districts who saved many lives, tended wounded and gave a Christian burial to victims". Lancastria is represented at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire by a Sessile oak tree and a plaque.

The Lancastria Association of Scotland began a campaign in 2005 to secure greater recognition for the loss of life aboard Lancastria and the acknowledgment of the endurance of survivors that day. It petitioned Downing Street to have the wreck site designated an official maritime war grave. The British Government refused to do so as it was within French territorial waters and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the Act. The campaign received support from MPs, Lords, MEPs and MSPs from all parties but the MoD claimed that such a move would be "purely symbolic" and have no effect. In 2006, 14 additional wrecks sunk at the Battle of Jutland were designated war graves; the Lancastria was again omitted. In 2007 the Association began a second petition, this time to the Scottish Parliament, calling for a special commemorative medal to be commissioned and awarded to all those who were aboard the ship that day. Campaigners believe this would represent, at last, formal recognition of what still remains a "forgotten tragedy". In February 2008 the Scottish Government confirmed it would present the medal to all those who were aboard the Lancastria that day. The medal is in recognition of the endurance of survivors and the ultimate sacrifice of the victims. The Lancastria Association of Scotland is also fundraising to establish a major memorial to the victims of the Lancastria which will be erected on the site where the ship was built in Clydebank. In October 2010 the local Council approved a planning application to have the memorial erected. In June 2010 to mark the 70th anniversary of the sinking, special ceremonies and services of remembrance will take place in Edinburgh and St. Nazaire. The Canadian rock band, The Tragically Hip, pays tribute and describes the sinking in the song Nautical Disaster on their Day for Night album released in 1994.