When we ran the North Cape refight on board HMS Belfast in 2003 (on the 60th anniversary of the battle) we were joined by a number of veterans from the battle. Most fascinating people, all of them. I've also worked closely with guys who were intimately involved with the sinking of the Sheffield and Ardent during Op Corporate, and with other survivors of WW2 sinkings through some of my wreck analysis work. In every case they have been the most wonderfiul people to share a pint and a chat with. It was also fascinating to see the vastly differing views and memories that people can have of the same incident, even to the point of being half able to believe they were on (for example) three different ships in three diferent battles. Human memory is an amazing thing.