Our speaker at May’s Monthly Meeting, Gilly Halcrow, brought to life the heroic and chilling story of this little-known secret WW II operation linking Shetland, Scotland and German-occupied Norway. Run by Norwegian sailors and the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), it used innocent-looking fishing boats to ferry resistance agents, weapons and radios into Norway while rescuing refugees and agents. In the depth of winter in the stormiest of seas and under cover of darkness, the small fishing boats left the safety of Shetland to deliver their valuable cargoes to coves and fishing ports 200 miles away along the coast of Norway.
Gilly transported us all back to those dark and perilous voyages. We met the brave Norwegian sailors whose boats were attacked from the skies and who knew capture meant execution. The most famous Shetland Bus man was Leif Larson who made 52 trips to Norway and became the most highly-decorated Allied naval officer of WW II. The Shetland Bus boats operated from Luna Ness (north of Lerwick) and repairs were carried out in Scalloway. And it was here, in Scalloway, that Gilly ended her excellent talk, sharing with us her own experience of a moving service held at the humble memorial dedicated to the sailors and resistance fighters of The Shetland Bus.