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In memory of:

Able Seaman Joseph Frederick Fortune

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Merchant Navy emblem

Military service

Rank: Able Seaman
Force: Merchant Navy
Unit/Regiment: Canadian Merchant Navy
Division: S.S. Newton Ash (Newcastle-on-Tyne, England) (148123)
Birth: Saint John, New Brunswick
Death: February 8, 1943 North Atlantic

Burial/memorial information

Grave reference: Panel 23.
Additional information
Son of John Edward Fortune and Vitelena Helena Latulippe, of Sydney, Nova Scotia. During the First World War, John Edward enlisted on 19 November 1914 with the 62nd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was transferred to the 115th Battalion, regimental number 742444. He was demobilized on 30 August 1916 for medical reasons. During the Second World War, he served as a private in the Veterans Guards and was assigned to dry dock security in St. John, New Brunswick.

Sailing with the 61-ship convoy SC-118, on 8 February 1943, at 0142 hours, the Newton Ash was torpedoed by U-402 700 miles (1127 km) west of Ininstrahull, south of Iceland and sank with 34 crew and five gunners, position 56°25'N/22°26'W. The four survivors were recovered by the US Coast Guard Ship USCGC Ingham (WPG-35) and landed in Reykjavik, Iceland. The attack by a pack of 18 U-boats sent twelve cargo ships to the bottom and three submarines sunk.

In the Books of Remembrance

Commemorated on:

Page 136 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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