HULME GEORGE HARRY G H 23 01/03/1942 Gunner Royal Artillery 3/2 Maritime Regt. United Kingdom '4459000' PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL MAKIN HERBERT H 24 01/03/1942 Lance Bombardier Royal Artillery 3/2 Maritime Regt. United Kingdom '4458917' PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIA These are the only two RA soldiers who died between 28 Feb and 1 March 1942. Are either of them your grandfather?
As far as I can make out Ivor's father was was wounded but survived. Ivor hasn't been on here since 2010 so I doubt he is following this thread anymore. For information, from my records, the two RA DEMS gunners you mention above were lost on ss CARPERBY 1st March 1942, she was torpedoed and sunk by U588 (Vogel) - all hands were lost. Regards Hugh
I am late to the party. My father was 2nd Officer on the ship. He never told me about the position of sinking or the rescue but: As 2nd Officer his action station was on the poop with the gun crew. The submarine surfaced and ordered them to hove to and abandon ship. They complied and my father was on the ladder with the 3rd below him and the Chief above when the submarine opened fire. The chief officer had the sink off his back flayed off. Next I was told they were rescued and taken back to Java. As distressed seamen the merchant navy crew were civilians and probably separated from the military personnel. They were sent up in to a hill school to await instructions and evacuation. Nothing happened and the situation looked bad so they made their way back to the port where there was a crush to evacuate. Priority was afforded to women and children followed by military. Male civilians had the lowest priority as they would have been interned and not treated as POW. My father had only married the previous April and one way and another he and the 3rd got on board. I don't know how many others escaped at the same time. At Fremantle, as distressed seamen they had no money and had to get jobs. His was treading grapes and the other sewing mailbag. After a week one had blistered hands and the other blistered feet. He eventually got a berth on the Australia Star in May and worked his passage back to UK via Mount. e Video He got to UK on 5 July 1942, I was born 9 months later. His next ship was the City of Marseille which he joined on 7 Sep until 25 Sep.
