As part of ongoing research into the Mk1 LCTs (A lighters) lost during the evacuation of Greece, in April 1941, an anomoly has cropped up. We have a message listing the missing crew members of 3 A lighters, A6, A15 and A20. We know what happened to A6 and A20 but A15 is thought to have been bombed and sunk with all hands, there were no witnesses. The list for A15 (see attached) shows 12 enlisted men and I have found CWGC entries for 11 of them (the Officer, P. C. Hutton, is also listed on CWGC) all commemorated on the 3 RN memorials. The date of death is given as 28th of April 1941 for all except the Officer, who is listed as lost on the 27th. The mystery is G. Ruddleston. There is no record of any Ruddlestons or Ruddlestones in CWGC or Geoff's Search Engine, and the service number D/SSX24857 comes back as a John Ruscoe, Able Seaman, HMS Gloustershire, lost 22nd May 1941 and commemorated on the Plymouth memorial. Apart from the obvious possible incorrect service number being listed does anyone have an idea what might be going on here?
That's great Idler, one of the possible miss-spellings I hadn't yet tried, and the service number is just 1 digit out. That is definately the right man - correct date and base shown as HMS Stag, the Combined Training Centre in Egypt. Thanks!
