Canadian Virtual War Memorial
James Clifford
In memory of:
Greaser James Clifford
February 26, 1942
North Atlantic
Military Service
31
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
MT Finnanger (Bergen, Norway)
Additional Information
December 2, 1910
Vancouver, British Columbia
On 24 February 1942, she was sailing with convoy ONS-67 when the ships were attacked by a pack of German submarines off Cape Race, Newfoundland. On 1 March 1942, as the Finnanger was moving away from the convoy, U-158 fired two torpedoes at 11:53 am. At 12:15, the submarine surfaced and fired its guns. After moving away from it because of the merchant ship's return fire, the U-158 resumed firing and pierced the hull at the waterline. The Finnanger sank at 16:17 with its 40 crew members, including the captain, in position 38°40'N/58°38'W.
Commemorated on Page 114 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 21.
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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Details
Memorial – This plaque is dedicated to the memory of Private James Earnest Clifford, born in Ottawa in April 1894. He eventually moved to Saskatchewan where he was a homesteader/farmer in the Leask area. He enlisted in March 1916 at Saskatoon. James Ernest Clifford was killed on September 1918 and is buried at Haynecourt British Cemetery, northwest of Cambrai. This plaque was originally located at the Loyal Orange #222 Billings Bridge; at the time, the village of Billings Bridge was a small community near the present day Billings Bridge in Ottawa. With the closure of the Lodge, the plaque eventually came into the hands of Gloucester Township Historical Society
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