Following discussions with survivors and relatives in Scotland a new Lancastria Association has been formed. The main aim of the Lancastria Association of Scotland is to organise an annual memorial service in Scotland for relatives and survivors who have difficulty travelling to France or London for the services held there.
The new Association will also campaign actively to ensure wider recognition of the disaster and bring the story to a wider public who remain largely unaware of the sacrifice made. Spokesman for the Association, Mark Hirst said:
"We have formed an Association in Scotland to allow us primarily to remember and hold an annual memorial service for people who have difficulty in travelling to France or England. Our focus is also firmly on making sure the British government do not continue the silence which has existed for the past 65 years.
"For their own reasons they wish to keep the story quiet. Perhaps because it takes the shine off the ‘miraculous’ escape from Dunkirk 2 weeks before Lancastria sank, or perhaps they are worried about legal claims against them. It is known that two Royal Navy Officers boarded Lancastria on the morning of the disaster and instructed the Captain to load as many men as possible ‘without regard to the limits set down under international law’. That was certainly a significant contributory factor in the scale of the disaster.
"Whatever their reason, our aim is not to seek compensation, but to seek formal recognition by the government of sacrifice made. They can do this through either designating Lancastria an official war grave, or by commissioning a medal to be awarded to the families of victims and also the remaining survivors. We are calling on them to do the right thing and not to continue to sweep the Lancastria under the carpet of history. I hope they can do the right thing."
