Broughton House resident Geoff Stott guest of honour at HMS EXETER memorial service

Royal Navy veteran Geoff Stott was the guest of honour at a memorial service held at Broughton House to mark the 75^th anniversary of the sinking of the famous warship HMS EXETER.

Geoff Stott prepares to lay a wreath at the Broughton House cenotaph, assisted by Broughton House chief executive Ty Platten

The heavy cruiser was sunk in the Java Sea on March 1, 1942, after being trapped by a Japanese fleet.

Geoff, 94, who lives at Broughton House, was among the surviving crew and subsequently spent three years in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. He had volunteered to join the Royal Navy in 1939 at the age of 15.

He laid a wreath at the Broughton House cenotaph during the ceremony held to commemorate the sinking of HMS Exeter and the servicemen who died.

Guests at the service included members of Geoff’s family alongside Karen Garrido, the ceremonial Mayor of Salford, representatives from Help for Heroes, Walking with the Wounded, the Defence Medical Welfare Service, Reservist medics 207 (Manchester) Field Hospital, trustees and supporters of Broughton House.

Ty Platten, Chief Executive of Broughton House, said: “We came together to remember Geoff’s bravery and that of many others who lost their lives on HMS Exeter and subsequently in one of most notorious Japanese prisoner of war camps near Nagasaki.

“It’s important the public understands that the world would be a very different place were it not for him and others like him.”

HMS Exeter was one of the most famous warships of the Second World War. She is best-known for her role in the Battle of the River Plate off Uruguay when she hunted down the pride of the German navy, the Admiral Graf Spee.

For more information on Broughton House, visit www.broughtonhouse.com