This year’s Merchant Navy Day on 3 September 2024 marks 110 years since merchant ships departed Wellington carrying troops to the First World War, and 80 years since two New Zealand vessels supported the D-Day invasion.

The national commemoration to honour those who served in the Merchant Navy during wartime is being held at 11am on Tuesday 3 September in the Hall of Memories at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington.

Merchant Navy Day commemorates the contribution of civilian merchant seafarers in wartime each year," says Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage Tumu Whakarae Secretary and Chief Executive.

"2024 marks 110 years since a fleet of ten merchant ships departed Wellington carrying the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to war in 1914," says Laulu Mac.

"It is especially significant as this year also marks the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings on D-Day (1944), which were supported by the New Zealand Merchant Navy ships Monowai and Aorangi. Kiwi seafarers also manned other transport and hospital ships on D-Day, serving alongside their many compatriots in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

"This is a significant commemoration to honour the several thousand New Zealand seafarers who served both in the First and Second World Wars, mostly sailing under the British red ensign.

"At least 230 seafarers are known to have lost their lives during the First World War and Second World War, and around 140 were taken prisoner.

"These civilian volunteers sailed the ships delivering troops, military equipment and vital cargoes of food, fuel and raw materials. Many ships were torpedoed or bombed, and survivors sometimes spent days or weeks in lifeboats before being rescued.

"No other group of New Zealand civilians faced such risks during wartime," says Laulu Mac, "let’s make sure that we take a moment on this Merchant Navy Day to remember them."

With this work essential to the Allies' war effort, the Merchant Navy was effectively regarded as the ‘fourth service’ alongside the army, navy and air force. Some members of this fourth service were as young as 14 years old, and others were in their 60s and 70s.

The Merchant Navy was a symbolic title adopted in Britain in the 1920s recognising the contribution of merchant mariners during the First World War. The date, 3 September, marks the sinking of the first British merchant ship in 1939, just hours after the Second World War began.       

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