Submariner Memorial Service 2026

This year around 250 serving and veteran submariners and their families gathered at the National Memorial Arboretum for the annual service. We Remember Submariners organise this simple but very moving service which included contributions from all parts of the submarine family and wreath laying by organisations and those who have been bereaved. David Parry read his poem Submariner Memorial which is reproduced below. Much more of David’s work is in our book Deep Thoughts, sales of which raised over £550 shared between Friends and Friends of the Holbrook Submarine Museum in NSW.

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Submariner Memorial by David Parry

Can the restless wave know who is asleep,
Down in the dark, down in the deep?
Can the fish know what friends they have,
In the watery cenotaph?
Can dolphins tell their silent tales,
And share their gossip with the whales?
 
Can the earth remember those it bore,
Those who had to leave its shore?
Can the families who said farewell,
Recover from the tolling bell?
Will the country e’er recall with pride,
Those who in the mighty ocean died
 
Those who knew the klaxon’s cry,
Did not know that they would die.
Those who lived with valve and vent,
Did not look for our lament.
But the boats they loved have turned to rust.
And their bones have now turned to dust.
 
So let this memorial forever be,
Though it stands far from the sea,
A sanctuary for any day
A place for us to reflect and say
Lord God of hosts be with us yet,
Lest we forget – lest we forget