Merry, Vernon Charles, Captain, 1922-1986.

The collection consists of administrative papers and ephemera relating to Merry’s appointment as flag lieutenant to Admiral Sir Bruce A. Fraser during operations of the British Pacific Fleet, between 1944 and 1946. The papers shed light on Anglo-American relations during the conflict in the Pacific and in the early post-war period following the surrender of Japan, and demonstrate the role of Fraser's social life and foreign trips.
Related Material
Various photographs relating to Merry’s career were presented to the Historic Photographs collection at the National Maritime Museum between 1986 and 1990.

Administrative / biographical background
Merry was born in Middlesex in 1922, one of the sons of William Roland Merry and Alice Highmore Merry née Pearce. He worked as an insurance clerk before joining the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) for war service on his eighteenth birthday in 1940. He was promoted to temporary acting sub-lieutenant in 1942 and joined the staff of Vice-Admiral Sir Bruce A. Fraser, commander-in-chief of the Home Fleet. During the Battle of the North Cape in December 1943 he witnessed the sinking of the German battleship SCHARNHORST (1936) from the bridge of HMS DUKE OF YORK (1940). Merry remained flag lieutenant when Fraser was promoted to full admiral and appointed commander-in-chief of the Eastern Fleet, and later as commander-in-chief of the British Pacific Fleet. He witnessed Fraser signing the Japanese surrender document on behalf of Britain on the deck of the USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay in September 1945. Merry was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) and after the war chose to remain in the Royal Navy. He then had a variety of roles at sea and ashore, including appointments on the destroyers HMS OPPORTUNE (1942) and HMS CHEVRON (1944). In the early 1960s he attended the Allied Forces' Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia, and then had a NATO appointment on the staff of Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic. Merry retired from the Navy with the rank of commander in 1977 and was promoted to captain on the retired list in 1968. He died at Harlech in Wales aged 63 in 1986.