This morning the Inverclyde Veterans Network organised a service of commemoration on the 85th Anniversary of the Greenock Blitz at the memorial in Greenock Cemetery to the citizens of Greenock who were killed in air raids in 1940-41. The worst attacks took place on the nights of 6th and 7th May 1941 when 271, mostly civilians, died and more than 10,000 were injured. Much of the east end of Greenock was flattened with 25000 buildings damaged and 5000 destroyed completely. More than 350 German Bombers took part in the attacks on each night which were never repeated. The shipyards and shipping on the Clyde remained largely unscathed with the civilian population paying the price! Both the Lord-Lieutenant and Provost of Greenock were invited to share a few words of reflection at the event.
The Lord-Lieutenant spoke of the tragic loss of civilian life on those fateful nights in May 1941 that was on a level that today we would find unthinkable and each one a precious father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter, whose loss would have been felt acutely and painfully by family, friends and the wider community. So many lives brutally cut short but remembered still 85 years on.
