I've just come across this interesting website. Very helpful to anyone researching family history, or to understand just how far the war was and where the hot spots were.
My grandad was a sailor and got promoted and joined another ship during the war. A week after his promotion, his old ship was sunk by the germans and all his mates died. He was to blame for me being a Charlton fan!
My grandfather was serving onboard HMS Frobisher at the Normandy landings.
I’m glad that the sight also shows the location of the RMS Lancastria which was sunk on 17 June 1940 off St. Nazaire while evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after Dunkirk. It remains the largest single-ship loss of lives and was covered up by the UK government for reasons of moral. Still today there is a lack of openness concerning this loss and there is a strong campaign to recognise the situation:
When I was a kid on holiday somewhere abroad with my parents, we struck up a friendship with a couple who were older than my parents by perhaps fifteen years or so. The bloke, Tom was deaf and had been a gunner in The Royal Navy during WWII. He blamed his hearing loss on his gunnery role. I think my dad and Tom got along because during the early fifties my dad was also a gunner in The RN. Anyway. During the war Tom was on leave from his ship at home in London and received orders that he was to go directly to join a new ship. I think he said he was to join it in Scotland. To cut a long story short. Making his way to catch a train north, he tripped down some stairs at a railway station and broke his ankle and of course couldn’t join his ship. That ship was HMS Hood.
When I was a kid on holiday somewhere abroad with my parents, we struck up a friendship with a couple who were older than my parents by perhaps fifteen years or so. The bloke, Tom was deaf and had been a gunner in The Royal Navy during WWII. He blamed his hearing loss on his gunnery role. I think my dad and Tom got along because during the early fifties my dad was also a gunner in The RN. Anyway. During the war Tom was on leave from his ship at home in London and received orders that he was to go directly to join a new ship. I think he said he was to join it in Scotland. To cut a long story short. Making his way to catch a train north, he tripped down some stairs at a railway station and broke his ankle and of course couldn’t join his ship. That ship was HMS Hood.
Were there 3 survivors from that?
There was a couple of Merchant sailors lost from our tiny village during WW2. One of them was having to cover for an ill colleague and as a result didn't make it back, he told the fella taking him to the railway station that he wouldn't be back.
I was surprised at the lack of Axis ships lost in the European theatre, then realised that the Germans had a much smaller fleet than the RN and then eventually the USA too. Just compare that with the Japanese loses north of Australia, no wonder they recalled their troops from North Africa to protect their homeland.
My grandfather was serving onboard HMS Frobisher at the Normandy landings.
I’m glad that the sight also shows the location of the RMS Lancastria which was sunk on 17 June 1940 off St. Nazaire while evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after Dunkirk. It remains the largest single-ship loss of lives and was covered up by the UK government for reasons of moral. Still today there is a lack of openness concerning this loss and there is a strong campaign to recognise the situation:
My grandfather was serving onboard HMS Frobisher at the Normandy landings.
I’m glad that the sight also shows the location of the RMS Lancastria which was sunk on 17 June 1940 off St. Nazaire while evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after Dunkirk. It remains the largest single-ship loss of lives and was covered up by the UK government for reasons of moral. Still today there is a lack of openness concerning this loss and there is a strong campaign to recognise the situation:
My Dad who was a Gunner in the RA just missed getting on the Lancastria in Operation Aerial and was brought back to Plymouth on SS Beltoy in a convoy on 18/19 June 1940 from St. Nazaire. He always said some of his pals died on the Lancastria which was actually a Liner and they have no idea how many of our troops perished.
My grandfather was serving onboard HMS Frobisher at the Normandy landings.
I’m glad that the sight also shows the location of the RMS Lancastria which was sunk on 17 June 1940 off St. Nazaire while evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after Dunkirk. It remains the largest single-ship loss of lives and was covered up by the UK government for reasons of moral. Still today there is a lack of openness concerning this loss and there is a strong campaign to recognise the situation:
My grandfather was serving onboard HMS Frobisher at the Normandy landings.
I’m glad that the sight also shows the location of the RMS Lancastria which was sunk on 17 June 1940 off St. Nazaire while evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after Dunkirk. It remains the largest single-ship loss of lives and was covered up by the UK government for reasons of moral. Still today there is a lack of openness concerning this loss and there is a strong campaign to recognise the situation:
My Dad who was a Gunner in the RA just missed getting on the Lancastria in Operation Aerial and was brought back to Plymouth on SS Beltoy in a convoy on 18/19 June 1940 from St. Nazaire. He always said some of his pals died on the Lancastria which was actually a Liner and they have no idea how many of our troops perished.
A lot of those that died were carried down the coast by the currents (almost as far as Biarritz!). There’s almost no Commonwealth war graves site that doesn’t include one or more of those lost on that terrible day.
Great web site . One thing that surprised me was how many of those ships that were sunk were fishing boats and cargo ships . Or perhaps that’s just what they were registered as ?
My Grandmothers brother Fred ( who was responsible for me being a Charlton fan) was a stoker in the Merchant Navy during WWII. His ship was torpedoed on a Baltic convoy but luckily he was on deck having a cigarette break but still went into the water. Survival time in the water was minutes but he was lucky enough to get rescued when another ship in the convoy put scramble nets along its side. No ships stopped for men in the water. As luck would have it, that ship was also torpedoed a couple of days later and Fred again went into the water. Scramble nets yet again saved his life. Remarkable really as the chances of being rescued by scramble nets was tiny.
Thanks for this thread @TellyTubby. It's helped me in tracing a name I came across when I
moved to Shepherdswell. In the Village Hall there are plaques on the
wall with the names of those fallen in conflicts and one stood out to
me as he had the same family name as me, he was Edward James Dray.
I did a bit of research
on him and found that he was born in Dover which was probably the
collective name at the time for surrounding villages as we are not
that far from the town. I discovered that Edward was born on 4th
June 1881 and died 28th June 1916. He was a Stoker 1st
Class on HMS Proserpine (AKA HMS Prosperine) and died from heat
stroke while the ship was in port in Mesopotamia. He was 35 when he
died and was buried in a Commonwealth War Grave in Basra (Now Iraq).
Subsequently it would appear that his remains were moved but I need
to do some more research on this.
I researched HMS
Proserpine and discovered that the ship was launched from Sheerness
in 1896 and I am assuming that Edward joined up as a young lad. The
ship did patrol work in the English channel in the first world war
(see map of movements) and then went to the Middle and Far East where
he died. I noted from the ship's sick list that it climbed to 80
while they were in port at Mohamerrah and had subsided to 72 on the
date of his burial so it would appear that 80 out of approximately 240 crew were
sick for some reason, probably heat stroke.
I still haven't
discovered if Edward is a distant relative, however, it was in our
family tradition that a first born son would usually have the name of
James somewhere in the full name so I'm keen to find out. A lot our
descendants came from the Dover/Elham area and gradually moved
towards London during the 18th/19th centuries.
I have added a picture of Edward plus the ship's movements and an
entry from the ships log for his burial.
****Edit. I've subsequently found out that he was born in the same village, Shepherdswell. Just a few hundred yards from where I am now.
Comments
My grandfather was serving onboard HMS Frobisher at the Normandy landings.
I’m glad that the sight also shows the location of the RMS Lancastria which was sunk on 17 June 1940 off St. Nazaire while evacuation of British nationals and troops from France, two weeks after Dunkirk. It remains the largest single-ship loss of lives and was covered up by the UK government for reasons of moral. Still today there is a lack of openness concerning this loss and there is a strong campaign to recognise the situation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lancastria?wprov=sfti1#Loss
There was a couple of Merchant sailors lost from our tiny village during WW2. One of them was having to cover for an ill colleague and as a result didn't make it back, he told the fella taking him to the railway station that he wouldn't be back.
I was surprised at the lack of Axis ships lost in the European theatre, then realised that the Germans had a much smaller fleet than the RN and then eventually the USA too. Just compare that with the Japanese loses north of Australia, no wonder they recalled their troops from North Africa to protect their homeland.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ss-richard-montgomery-information-and-survey-reports/ss-richard-montgomery-background-information
Thanks for this thread @TellyTubby. It's helped me in tracing a name I came across when I moved to Shepherdswell. In the Village Hall there are plaques on the wall with the names of those fallen in conflicts and one stood out to me as he had the same family name as me, he was Edward James Dray.
I did a bit of research on him and found that he was born in Dover which was probably the collective name at the time for surrounding villages as we are not that far from the town. I discovered that Edward was born on 4th June 1881 and died 28th June 1916. He was a Stoker 1st Class on HMS Proserpine (AKA HMS Prosperine) and died from heat stroke while the ship was in port in Mesopotamia. He was 35 when he died and was buried in a Commonwealth War Grave in Basra (Now Iraq). Subsequently it would appear that his remains were moved but I need to do some more research on this.
I researched HMS Proserpine and discovered that the ship was launched from Sheerness in 1896 and I am assuming that Edward joined up as a young lad. The ship did patrol work in the English channel in the first world war (see map of movements) and then went to the Middle and Far East where he died. I noted from the ship's sick list that it climbed to 80 while they were in port at Mohamerrah and had subsided to 72 on the date of his burial so it would appear that 80 out of approximately 240 crew were sick for some reason, probably heat stroke.
I still haven't discovered if Edward is a distant relative, however, it was in our family tradition that a first born son would usually have the name of James somewhere in the full name so I'm keen to find out. A lot our descendants came from the Dover/Elham area and gradually moved towards London during the 18th/19th centuries. I have added a picture of Edward plus the ship's movements and an entry from the ships log for his burial.
Yes indeed. I'll do some digging to.