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In memory of:

Greaser John Gordon Caldicott

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Merchant Navy emblem

Military service

Age: 20
Rank: Greaser
Force: Merchant Navy
Unit/Regiment: Canadian Merchant Navy
Division: M.V. Silveray (London, England) (148621)
Birth: July 26, 1921 Vancouver, British Columbia
Death: February 4, 1942 North Atlantic

Burial/memorial information

Grave reference: Panel 21.
Additional information
Son of Clarence Waltin Caldicott and Christina Corrin, of Vancouver, British Columbia. Husband of Mary Alice Jones, of Liverpool, England. Father of a child.

On 4 February 1942, Silveray sailed from Liverpool, England, Greenock, Scotland, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and New York, USA, with convoy ON-55, which was scattered south of Halifax due to a submarine attack by U-751, which torpedoed Silveray at 4:27 am. She remained afloat until she was hit by two more torpedoes at 4:50 and 4:57. She sank with 7 crew members and a gunner, position 43°54'N/64°16'W.

The captain and 34 sailors were rescued by the US Coast Guard Ship USS Campbell (WPG-22) and landed in Argentia, Newfoundland. Six other sailors were rescued by the SS Lucille M. and landed in Lockeport, Nova Scotia.

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 105 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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