New stories of Soviet and Irish Northern Convoys’ participants have been added to the site

The International Centre adds to our website the stories of two veterans - our compatriot, Mefodiy Tyurikov, and Edward Sheridan from the Republic of Ireland.

The stories of the veterans are very unlike, firstly, because their heroes come from different countries, secondly, due to the fact that while Mefodiy Tyurikov took part in rendering the the icebreaker assistance to ships with Lend-Lease cargos, the Irish-born telegraphist Edward Sheridan participated in five convoys from Scotland to Murmansk and four return ones. Edward Sheridan did not return from his last convoy, remaining forever in the cold waters of the Arctic with his ship HMS Lapwing, while the Soviet veteran Mefodiy Tyurikov lived a long life after the war.

But what unites the stories of the veterans is the memory of them, which their descendants have been carefully preserving for several generations now, and passing on to their children. And that is the special value of the stories we are publishing today. Edward Sheridan's story was been shared with us by his nephew John Kirke, whilst the story of Mefodiy Tyurikov's life was written by his great granddaughter Veronika, who expressed in her narration the love for her great grandfather and deep respect for his wartime bravery.

We express our sincere gratitude to the families of Mefodiy Tyurikov and Edward Sheridan and personally to John Kirke and Veronika Tyurikova and her parents for sharing the stories, materials and photos!