Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Earl Bach
In memory of:
Chief Radio Officer Earl Bach
July 27, 1942
Military Service
23
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
SS Leikanger (Norvège) (77508)
Additional Information
March 30, 1919
Buffalo, New York
Son of George Conrad Bach et d'Anna Mary Koch, Kitchener, Ontario. During the First World War, George enlisted at Waterloo, Ontario, on April 25, 1915, with the 118th Battalion, C Company, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Regimental Number 751706. On September 29,1916, he was declared a deserter.
On July 27, 1942, at 2:14 p.m., she was sailing with convoy FN-20 when she was torpedoed twice by U-752 west of Africa, position 04°N/18°W. The ship broke in two and sank immediately with its captain, sixteen crew members and a gunner. The survivors were rescued on July 31, by the SS Luckenbach and landed in Cape Town, South Africa, on August 12.
Commemorated on Page 89 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.
Burial Information
HALIFAX MEMORIAL
Nova Scotia, Canada
Panel 20.
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:
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.
Digital Collection
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