Remembering a Veteran

©RN Communications Branch Museum/Library

During the first few years of the opening of the museum I received many requests from families of veteran 'Communicators' who had crossed the bar, for the loan of a White Ensign for the funeral of their loved one. In the main we were unable to comply with requests due to the time it took to organise the borrowing of an Ensign. This situation was highlighted by Danny Streather when in 2019 he tried to obtain an Ensign for the funeral of ex WO(RS) Dave Tavener. Thankfully, with the help of the Radio Supervisor of HMS Diamond, who donated a size 6 White Ensign to the museum, we were able to help Dave's family to give him the send off he deserved. Following this the Seaman Specialist Branch also donated another Ensign. At Dave's wake I discussed this with Danny and we came to the conclusion that these two Ensigns should be held within the museum for future use . To this end we now hold both Ensigns in a suitable container which are available for loan to the families of those that cross the bar. Thanks also go to Dave Gibson who arranges the ‘brass’ tallies which have been placed on the lid of the box, thus providing a lasting memory of the veteran communicator.

However, we also started to receive requests from families of RN veterans of other branches, so it was decided to open the availability of the loan of a White Ensign to the families of all Royal Navy Veterans who cross the bar.

As can be seen from the images above the Ensigns will be kept in the museum in a suitable container and all ex Communicators will have a small brass plaque fixed on the top of the box whilst non Communicators will have it fixed to the sides, thus providing a lasting memory of those that have Crossed the Bar.

Any family wishing to borrow the White Ensign should contact Ken Sutton, Curator of the RN Communications Branch Museum via email commsmuseum(AT)gmail.com.