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In memory of:

Ordinary Seaman Edward Joseph Burns

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Merchant Navy emblem

Military service

Age: 35
Rank: Ordinary Seaman
Force: Merchant Navy
Unit/Regiment: Canadian Merchant Navy
Division: S.S. Pan Massachusetts (New York) (217457)
Birth: August 21, 1906 Montreal
Death: February 19, 1942

Burial/memorial information

Grave reference: Panel 21.
Additional information
Son of Francis Joseph Burns and Margaret Ann Colfer, of Montréal, Québec.

On February 19, 1942, after departing from Texas City, Texas, USA, she was torpedoed at about 7:45 p.m. by U-128 about 20 miles (32 km) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, position 28°27'N/80°08'W. She quickly sank with the loss of 3 officers and 17 crew members. The survivors, including the captain, were picked up by the tanker Elizabeth Massey and bodies were recovered by the US Coast Guard Ship USS Forward (WAGL-160) and all were landed in Jacksonville, Florida.

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 104 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance.
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HALIFAX MEMORIAL Nova Scotia, Canada

The HALIFAX MEMORIAL in Nova Scotia's capital, erected in Point Pleasant Park, is one of the few tangible reminders of the men who died at sea. Twenty-four ships were lost by the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War and nearly 2,000 members of the RCN lost their lives.

This Memorial was erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was unveiled in November 1967 with naval ceremony by H.P. MacKeen, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, in the presence of R. Teillet, then Minister of Veterans Affairs.

The monument is a great granite Cross of Sacrifice over 12 metres high, clearly visible to all ships approaching Halifax. The cross is mounted on a large podium bearing 23 bronze panels upon which are inscribed the names of over 3,000 Canadian men and women who were buried at sea.

The dedicatory inscription, in French and English, reads as follows:

1914-1939
1918-1945
IN THE HONOUR OF
THE MEN AND WOMEN
OF THE NAVY
ARMY AND MERCHANT NAVY
OF CANADA
WHOSE NAMES
ARE INSCRIBED HERE
THEIR GRAVES ARE UNKNOWN
BUT THEIR MEMORY
SHALL ENDURE.

On June 19, 2003, the Government of Canada designated September 3rd of each year as a day to acknowledge the contribution of Merchant Navy Veterans.

For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

 

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