THEY will be honouring the last request of Harry Miller on a windswept cliff top above a quiet Cornish cove.
Harry's ashes will be scattered there, overlooking the restless sea – on which the ashes of his beloved wife Phyllis will be spread at the same time.
In that way Harry, who had a deep and understandable dislike of the deep, will still be close to Phyllis who was a real "water baby".
Their children Mike Miller and Marlene Buckland, of Pinhoe, will be there for that final farewell, both knowing that their parents were a special pair – their father in particular an unsung hero of the Second World War.
Official papers, letters and documents now in the family's possession reveal that Harry, who passed away aged 73, had ships sunk underneath him twice in almost as many hours one dark and freezing night in the North Atlantic in May 1941.
Harry, who was born in Exeter, lived in what was Durling Road, off Rifford Road, Wonford. He did well at school, earning a scholarship to Exeter School – which he had to forego as his parents simply could not afford the fees.
Then war broke out and Harry, just 17 years old, joined the Mercantile Marine and went to sea as a gunner aboard the Norman Monarch, carrying 8,378 tons of desperately needed wheat from Halifax, Nova Scotia to beleaguered Britain.
His convoy of ships, designated Convoy HX 126, was attacked by German submarine U94 and at 4.47am a torpedo hit Norman Monarch and the crew were forced to abandon ship.
The SS Harpagus, also travelling with the convoy, came in close and the survivors were able to row their lifeboats to her. There the rescuers took off the survivors' clothing to dry – meaning they also removed their life jackets.
As the Harpagus steamed to rejoin HX 126 she in turn was hit by two torpedoes fired by U109 and sank in just three minutes.
Unfamiliar with the new ship the survivors of the Norman Monarch searched desperately for their lifejackets – but many ran out of time and drowned.
Harry's daughter Marlene said: "Dad was a non-swimmer. He was one of four gunners and they had always told him not to worry if they were sunk as they would look after him. Sadly they all drowned but he some how survived. There had been no time to get all the lifeboats off after the second attack and he learned to swim very quickly.
"Dad was in the water for a long time before he came upon a lifeboat full of survivors. It was so full they were pushing people away. Dad managed to hook his leg on to the side of the lifeboat which suddenly rolled and threw him on board. They didn't throw him off. He was using his last strength to hold on and if the boat had rolled the other way he would have lost his grip and been lost."
The survivors were eventually picked up by the destroyer HMS Burnham and landed at Reykjavik, Iceland, on May 25.
Harry was sent home to Exeter for leave.
Marlene said: "Apparently he went straight to his bedroom and stayed there for two weeks. He would not speak about what he had seen. In fact, he never spoke to me about it at all. There was no talk of post-traumatic stress in those days, you were just supposed to get on with it.
"Soon afterwards he received letters from mothers and a girl friend of a crewman, asking if he had any information about what had happened to their loved ones.
"Dad saw more service, in Africa and Burma, and was demobbed in 1946. He returned to Durling Road and then he and mum moved to Whipton Barton Road where they lived out the rest of their lives.
"Dad worked for the gas board in Exeter and would cycle all the way to Okehampton with a ladder on the back, to light the gas lamps there."
His son Mike, who has just completed 50 years with British Gas, said: "Dad never talked about what happened in the war, maybe just a few snippets, but it was something he wanted to forget. He always said he didn't want his ashes anywhere near the water because it had taken so many of his friends, but Mum was a real water baby and loved the sea. That is why we are taking their ashes to a bay in Cornwall they both loved. They will be together and Dad will be able to look out over her."
