The day was June 8, 1946. England was still in the throes of celebration after the Allied victory over the Germans and the Japanese and the end of World War II.
It would be a day Blenheim man and New Zealand merchant navy deck hand Jim McArtney would never forget.
He worked on board the NZHS Maunganui which left Wellington in April 1946 carrying soldiers on a five-week journey to England to take part in the victory parade in London.
The town was filled with scenes of jubilation even though food was still being rationed; the parade featured the most people he had ever seen in one place, he said.
Mr McArtney, a lifetime Blenheim resident, was one of eight merchant navy sailors in Marlborough who gathered at Clubs Marlborough to commemorate the country's first official Merchant Navy Day on Friday.
The day is commemorated on September 3 and is the date the first British merchant navy ship was sunk by a German U-boat northwest of Ireland in 1939.
Organiser of the Blenheim event, Tony Lester, said the official recognition was a long time coming and the merchant navy was not largely recognised as an armed force by the Returned and Services' Association. Mr McArtney, who was 15 at the time he joined, always dreamed of going to sea and lied about his age on documents to meet the 16-year age restriction to join the merchant navy. He worked on two ships sailing around Australia and New Zealand, mostly carrying cargo and munitions, for nine months before the war ended but stayed on with the merchant navy for a few more years afterward.
His Norwegian neighbour suggested he join the merchant navy so he could leave whenever he wanted, but "I never did [want to leave]".
Mr Lester said the group had decided to meet informally, but would form a regional association if more members of the merchant navy showed an interest.
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