Robert & Jim Harrison in Royal Navy

Remembrance Day. My grandfather Jim Harrison and his dad, Robert Harrison were both salt of the earth Yorkshire men who served in WW1. Jim joined the Royal Navy as a lad in 1910, became a torpedoman and was promoted through the ranks to Chief Petty Officer. During the war he served on many ships, mostly because they ended up damaged or sunk. His lucky ship was HMS Kennet. It was one of the supporting ships for the allied warships that had gathered at Gallipoli for the disastrous ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915. He named the house where I grew up in Australia after the Kennet. Towards the end of the war Jim joined one the "Mystery Ships", flower class sloop HMS Viola. These were triple-hulled minesweepers designed to look like fishing trawlers but the sailors on board were performing extremely risky work pulling up mines then detonating them, as well as detecting U-boats and dropping depth charges. HMS Viola sunk one of the last U-Boats off Whitby before peace was declared.

There was a rift between Jim and his father so I never knew until recently that my great grandfather Robert had also joined the Royal Navy. He was a stoker on another flower class minesweeper HMS Jonquil, doing similarly dangerous work off the north of England. Neither Jim nor Robert picked up their medals after the war. Unsung heroes that helped keep us safe. #LestWeForget