Text of James' speech on behalf of the LiMMA relatives on Tuesday 19th May 2026 at the Zhoushan City Museum.

Good Morning Everyone.

My name is Jim Murphy and I am genuinely delighted to have been asked to say a few words of thanks and congratulations on behalf of the British families this morning.

My full name is James Lawrence Murphy, which is the same name as my father, and he is the reason my wife, Sue, and I are here today.

At the outbreak of World War 2 my father was a soldier serving with the Hong Kong Company of the Royal Corps of Signals. He was on the Lisbon Maru and was one of the survivors.

When he eventually got out of the hold that he was in, and looking to get off the Lisbon Maru, he could see Japanese patrol boats shooting survivors in the water.

Dad was a strong swimmer and could see some islands in the distance so he decided to swim away, avoiding the boats, swimming towards the islands.

When he reached the island he was absolutely exhausted and described being lifted by a wave and carried towards some rocks, and could see people being dashed against the rocks, he was carried by a wave through a gap between rocks and deposited in calmer water.

He had absolutely no energy left, he was exhausted. All he could do was float on his back, with his eyes closed, expecting to die.

And then the back of his head hit something. He opened his eyes, and saw the straw hat of a fisherman who was reaching down for him, to pull him out of the water.

He was taken to a village, where he was fed and clothed, and looked after by them. My Dad said that they did not know if they would be punished by the Japanese for helping him, but they helped him anyway.

It may have only been a few days, but it gave him a life-long love of Chinese food and Chinese cooking.

After a few days he was picked up by a Japanese patrol, who were searching the area looking for survivors. He spent the rest of the war in a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp, working on Kobe Docks.

I said at the start of these remarks that I wanted to say a few words of thanks and congratulations.

Firstly, we would like to thank the Chinese Embassy in London, the Chinese National Government and the Regional Government of Zhoushan for their generosity in making this visit possible.

My Dad had 4 children. My sister Judith has 2 children and a granddaughter, my brother Michael has two children, my other brother Peter has two sons, and Sue and I have 1 son. None of us would be alive without the selfless courage and compassion of the fishermen and villagers who saved so many people.

The man who saved my father didn't save one man on that day, when he stretched out his hand, he saved 13 people... so far!

And our story is not unique. All of the survivors of the Lisbon Maru survived because of the humanity and bravery of the local fishermen and their families. So, on behalf of all of those family members, both those who are privileged to be here today and those at home in the UK and across the world who, without their actions, simply would not have existed, we say THANK YOU. Thank you for our lives as well.

The fishermen of Zhoushan understood a timeless truth: when people choose compassion over suspicion, and cooperation over hostility, lives are saved and futures transformed. That is the lesson we must carry forward.

Let us therefore honour those brave Chinese rescuers not only with words, but with renewed commitment to dialogue, understanding, and friendship between our nations. Let us ensure that future generations of Britons and Chinese alike know this story, not as a footnote of war, but as a triumph of human solidarity.

For in the darkest of times, on dangerous seas far from home, Chinese fishermen reached out their hands to British soldiers and in doing so, they built a bridge between our peoples that still endures today. May that bridge continue to grow stronger in the years ahead.

My closing remarks are of congratulation. It is clear to us, and obvious by the arrangements for the events of this week, that the Chinese people highly value those ties of friendship which bind us, and have made considerable, and substantial, efforts to commemorate and honour those ties.

We would like to offer our congratulations that those efforts have created such an impressive legacy, both in terms of the physical structures such as the memorial, the museum and the trees which will be planted on Dongji Island later, but also, and just as important, the human, emotional, spiritual and friendship legacies which started with the actions of a few local fishermen and their families 84 years ago but which have been embraced, continued and expanded by today's wider Dongji, Zhoushan and Chinese generations and the wider families and following generations of the people those Fishermen saved.

Thank you and congratulations for all you have done and continue to do.