The daughter of a late and highly decorated seafarer who operated a secret operations route between Norway and Scotland during the Second World War is retracing the journey in a commemorative voyage.
Ahead of the VE Day 80th anniversary, Astrid Larsen, the daughter of Leif Anders “Shetlands” Larsen, is travelling on a “Shetland Bus” vessel between the two countries in a Liberation Convoy recreating the route.
The fishing boats and merchant ship were used to smuggle special forces soldiers and secret agents from Shetland to Nazi-occupied Norway.
They also carried weapons, explosives and radios for the resistance movement and on their return journeys brought refugees and soldiers escaping from the Nazis.
Vessels travelling the route, dubbed the “Shetland Bus”, were at constant risk of discovery by German submarines and planes.
Mr Larsen was one of the most famous men who operated the Shetland Bus, having barely escaped Norway in February 1941 in a fishing boat before joining the Norwegian Naval Independent Unit, a cover title that came to be known as the Shetland Bus.
He was the skipper of the fishing vessel Arthur during an attempt to sink the German battleship Tirpitz in the Trondheimsfjord in 1942, which failed.
Despite the failure, he received a Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, making him the first non-British person to gain one.
After the war ended, he returned to Norway where he was married and had three daughters, including Astrid.
Mr Larsen died after a stroke in 1990, aged 84.
Some of the boats used during the war are now being reunited to take part in a Liberation Convoy which is travelling from Norway to Lerwick in Shetland next month, arriving in time for events commemorating the 80th anniversary of VE Day on May 8.
Mr Larsen’s daughter, Astrid Larsen, aged 73, is travelling on one of the boats, which is due to arrive in Lerwick in the Shetland isles on May 6.
Remembering her father, the retired healthcare professional said: “We were a very normal family, the only special thing was that sometimes people wanted to speak with my father about the war, but he didn’t like to speak about it.
“I think it was the same for many men and women who had experienced difficulty during the war.”
Ms Larsen, who has one grown-up son, was born in 1951, just a few years after the war ended.
She says her father learned to navigate Norwegian waters through the help of his own father, who owned a small fishing boat.
Asked about her father’s achievements in the war, Ms Larsen, of Bergen, Norway, said: “My father did a great job, but he always said there were many others just like him, and that together they did a great job.
“He made 52 trips from Norway to Shetland during the war, so I am proud of what he did.”
Ms Larsen is no stranger to the Shetland Isles, having travelled there some 30 times throughout her life.
However, this marks the first time she will have travelled there on the same boats used by the Shetland Bus.
She said: “I’m not nervous at all, just excited. I really look forward to this trip and I think it’s great we have the boats together.
“I think it will be a very good experience and I look forward to talking with the other people there.
“I have been to Shetland many times but never in one of these boats or in a convoy, so it’ll be different.
“I started going to Shetland with my husband when my father was still alive. I really like Shetland, the nature, the people, and it’s a very relaxing place.”
She added: “I continue to go every summer and take friends and family, there are so many people in Norway who want to go to Shetland.
“I think I have been more than 30 times.”
