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In memory of:

Able Seaman William Elward

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Military service

Age: 38
Rank: Able Seaman
Force: Merchant Navy
Unit/Regiment: Canadian Merchant Navy
Division: S.S. Janeta II (Glasgow, Scotland)(161894)
Birth: January 1, 1906 Kingston, Kent, New Brunswick
Death: May 1, 1944 South Atlantic

Burial/memorial information

Grave reference: Panel 23.
Additional information
Son of Guillaume (aka William) Elward and Salomé Doucet, of Richibucto Village, Kent, New Brunswick.

On 1 May 1941, at 4.11 am, the Janeta II was torpedoed by U-181 900 miles (1,448 km) south-west of Ascension Island, off the coast of Brazil, in position 18°14'S/20°00'W. Of the crew of 48 sailors, nine and four gunners lost their lives. On the 12th, the American destroyer escort USS Alger (DE-101) rescued ten of them. On the 14th, fifteen others were picked up by the Swedish cargo ship Freja south of Bahia and taken back to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The captain and nine sailors reached Belmonte on the 17th and were rescued on the 20th by a small coaster that landed them in Bahia.

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 132 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance.
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