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Two exeter men who came out alive from Britain's worst naval disaster are planning a pilgrimage this summer to honour the memory of their 4,000 comrades who died.
Sixty-five years ago this June, Charles Coe, now 85, and Morris Lashbrook, now 88, were manning Bren guns aboard the British troopship Lancastria, when she was sunk by enemy action with the loss of more lives than the Titanic and Lusitania disasters put together.
The two veterans are justifiably proud to be members of the Lancastria Survivors Association. And, along with fellow members, they have regularly made pilgrimages to France to honour their comrades who died and to lay wreaths on the water around the wreck of the Lancastria.
Morris told me: "We always sail out to the wreck in the estuary of Loire at 4.05pm on June 17, the exact time when the Lancastria was sunk."
Sadly, though, the veterans told me that this will be the last pilgrimage organised by the survivors' association. Charles explained: "As the years have gone by, time has taken its toll on our numbers - although I expect some of us may go back for private visits."
The two veterans will join association colleagues in St Nazaire, France, on June 17 for the final united remembrance ceremonies, including a parade to the Lancastria Memorial in St Nazaire.
Born in Mount Pleasant, Exeter, Morris Lashbrook became an apprentice electrician after leaving Ladysmith School. He joined the Royal Army Service Corps as a regular in 1933 and worked with Charles Coe in No 1 Heavy Repair Shop, RASC, later a part of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
They were among the first British troops sent to France at the start of the Second World War in 1939, and among the last to be evacuated in 1940. After his dramatic escape from the Lancastria, Morris saw service in the Middle East, Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Italy.
He met his wife Margaret while serving in London and they have a daughter and two grandchildren.
He completed 25 years of service as a regular soldier and when he returned to civilian life settled with Margaret in Weston-super-Mare on obtaining an engineering job there from which he is now retired. They still live in the resort, but keep in touch with life in Exeter through Morris's brother, Don, who lives in Whipton.
Charles Coe, from Heavitree, is a retired college lecturer, having taught joinery and technical drawing at St Loye's College, Exeter, for 22 years.
Suffolk born, he became a pupil at the Duke of York's Royal Military School in Dover at the age of nine. From there he went on to the Army Apprentices College and, eventually, to service with Morris in No 1 Heavy Repair Shop RASC.
He later worked with Royal Engineers at the Luton military air base defusing unexploded enemy bombs.
Charles's unit was later posted to the Middle East and served with the Eighth Army, the 'Desert Rats.' The unit was at El Alamein. After demob in 1946, Charles worked as a joiner in London before moving to Exeter when he became a tutor at St Loye's College. With wife Irene he brought up three daughters, all of whom live in Devon. There are now six grandchildren and a recently-arrived great-grandchild. Sadly, Irene died in 1985.
During the final official return to St Nazaire this June, Charles will once more be on parade as official standard bearer for the survivors' association.
The two veterans say they are impressed by the appreciation their French hosts always show of the sacrifices made by our forces.
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