On 4th May, Dutch Remembrance Day, the Dutch Merchant Navy association launched a website with a database of the stories of over 19,500 men and women who served in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War.

In the presence of descendants of the seamen, HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb and MP Mark Halbers, Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, we learned more about the men and women who joined the war effort. Descendants told the stories of their ancestors.

I joined the Douane Orkest to sing hymns and songs during the ceremony, under conductor Björn Bus.

When the website was launched, boats in the harbour sounded their fog horns. For a brief moment, it felt like the desperation of a civilian vessel, manned by people not trained for war, making one last cry before steaming into battle. War is tragic and all are victims, and my heart went out to the men and women who fought against all odds so that those who remained could live free from tyranny.