Iolaire Torchlight Procession

This is me, (complete with odd facial expression), taking part in the torchlight procession, marking the centenery of the Iolaire disaster that took place in the early hours of the morning of 1st January, 1919. The worst peacetime maritime disaster in Britain since the Titanic, (and surpassed only by the Zebrugge disaster since then), 201 sailors from (mainly) the Isle of Lewis, who had survived the horrors of WW1, drowned within yards of the shore while returning home. An unspeakable tragedy which still haunts the island, and which was never properly investigated by the British Admiralty. (Surprise, surprise). Each torch represented one of the 201 who drowned. My own Grandfather was one of only 79 survivors. If he hadn't got to shore safely, I wouldn't be here.