Second Radio Officer Andrew Jordan Laing

Son of the Reverend and Mrs Andrew Laing of Woodham. His father was appointed Minister of the Woodham and Zion United Churches. Jordan Laing attended St Marys Collegiate and in 1938 took radio training in Toronto, probably with the Radio College of Canada. Subsequently he worked for Marconi International Marine as a Second Radio Officer on a variety of merchant ships.

Second Radio Officer Laing served in danger zones almost continuously from 1940 onwards. He was on the SS Northern Prince when it was torpedoed and sunk on 10 April 1941. Four weeks later, he was on board another ship when it too was sunk by enemy action off Crete. Both times he was rescued. On 20 September 1941, Second Radio Officer Laing was on board the SS Cingalese Prince off the west coast of Africa when it was torpedoed and sunk at about 4p.m.

Seventeen survivors were rescued and taken to Spain. The remainder of the crew, including Jordan Laing, were missing and presumed to have been killed. Second Radio Officer Laing has no known grave but is commemorated by name on the Halifax Memorial at Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is also commemorated on a bronze plaque on the Cenotaph located in St. Marys, Ontario.

His parents as well as a brother, Russell and a sister, Marjorie, all of Woodham, survived Jordan Laing.