A BEN story of a dramatic sea rescue during the Second World War stirred memories for two Bolton navy veterans.

Last Friday the BEN told how Farnworth man Alfred Hedley, now 82, helped to save 800 men, women and children when the Duchess of Atholl was torpedoed in the Atlantic.

Mr Hedley was a Royal Marine Reserve sailor aboard a ship which went to the rescue.

Mention of the Atholl brought memories back for John Mellett, 87, and his brother Redmond, 83, of Presto Gardens, Deane.

They both served aboard the Atholl but had switched ships before she was sunk by a German U-boat in 1942.

John, who is disabled and called at the BEN on his battery powered buggy, says he can well imagine the horror of that occasion.

"I was on another ship which was part of a convoy crossing the Atlantic when a liner in front was hit and went down with 700 men, women and children on board. A lot of people died," he said.

John was badly injured when his ship, HMS Ajax, was bombed off South Africa and he still bears the scars.

But after a long spell in a hospital in New York he was able to resume his civilian job as a plasterer after the war.