LEWIS J. E. C.

Ordinary Seaman P/JX 523839 James Edward Corlett LEWIS.

Royal Navy H.M.S. Erebus (I02).

12 Mar 1944 aged 18.

Stockport Borough Cemetery, Sec. H.N. Grave 75.

Son of Harold Bertram and Eleanor Jane Lewis, of Cale Green, Stockport.

One of four who died in a boat accident.

H.M.S.Erebus (photo from MilitaryImages.Net)

grave of James LEWIS (photo from findagrave)

ATHERTON H.

Stoker 1st Class C/KX 171743 Harry ATHERTON

Royal Navy H.M.S. Lanka

11 Mar 1946 aged 22

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Thailand, Plot 10. Row P. grave 11.

Harry Atherton and Elizabeth Cook were married in 1923 at St.Matthews in Edgeley, the following year they had a daughter, followed by Harry.

Killed in a road accident whilst serving at H.M.S. Lanka a shore establishment in Colombo, Ceylon.

Grave of Harry ATHERTON (Photo from findagrave.com added by GulfportBob)

SCHOFIELD T.

Chief Petty Officer D/J 29108 Thomas SCHOFIELD

Royal Navy

11 Mar 1945 aged 47

Manchester Southern Cemetery, Sec. M. Nonconformist. Grave 129.

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Schofield

Husband of Julia Schofield, of Levenshulme, Manchester.

A Recruiter based in Manchester who died as the result of an illness.

BROCKLEHURST F. C.

Able Seaman Francis Charles BROCKLEHURST.

Merchant Navy M.V. Empire Light (Liverpool).

7 Mar 1943 aged 51.

Tower Hill Memorial, Panel 43.

Francis was the eldest of William and Jane Brocklehursts two sons. He married Esther Jones on 5 Dec 1918 at the Houghton Memorial Church in Ancoats

At 18:20 hours on 7 Mar 1943 Type VIIC U-638 (Kapitänleutnant Hinrich-Oscar Bernbeck) attacked a straggler from convoy ON-168 in bad weather southwest of Cape Farewell. Bernbeck thought that he had missed, but the Empire Light (Master A.L. Lewis) was damaged and abandoned. 39 crew members and six gunners were lost. The master, three crew members and one gunner were picked up by H.M.S. Beverley and landed at St. John’s, Newfoundland.

At 22.12 hours on 12 March, another Type VIIC U-468 (Oberleutnant Klemens Schamong) sank the abandoned Empire Light with two coups de grâce.

Tower Hill Memorial (photo from minube)

APPLEBY S.

Stoker LT/KX 149192 Stanley APPLEBY.

Royal Naval Patrol Service H.M.T. Southern Flower (FY 332).

3 Mar 1945 aged 28.

Lowestoft Naval Memorial, Panel 17, Column 2.

Stanley left behind a wife, Elsie Jane Ryder who he married in 1944, and a daughter that was born the following year. 

The R.N.P.S. operated many small auxiliary vessels such as naval trawlers for anti-submarine and minesweeping operations to protect coastal Britain and convoys. H.M.T. Southern Flower was a former whaler launched in 1928 for the Southern Whaling and Sealing Company. It was requisitioned by the Navy in 1940 and  converted to an anti submarine trawler. 

At 11:32 hours on 3 Mar 1945 H.M.S. Southern Flower (Skipper William George Brown) was hit by a torpedo from Type VIIC/41 U-1022 (Kapitänleutnant Ernst Hans-Joachim), and sank almost immediately four miles off Skagi in the north of Iceland. 25 crew members were lost, with the only survivor being the commander.

Royal Naval Patrol Service Memorial, Lowestoft (photo from Wikipedia)

ROSE L. E.

Leading Seaman D/JX 186091 Louis Edward ROSE

Royal Navy H.M.L.S.T. 362

2 Mar 1944 aged 29

Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 85, Column 3.

Son of Frederick Alfred and Eleanor Ann Rose

Husband of Doris Mary Rose, of Offerton, Cheshire.

At 02:50 hours on 2 Mar 1944 Type VIIC U-744 (Oberleutnant Heinz Blischke) fired a spread of four torpedoes at a convoy of four small tankers about 370 miles southwest of Cape Clear and reported sinking three of them. The U-boat retreated after being attacked by a destroyer and unsuccessfully firing a Gnat from the stern torpedo tube at it.

In fact, the attacked ships were a group of four landing ships (H.M.L.S.T.-324, H.M.L.S.T-362, H.M.L.S.T-413 and H.M.L.S.T-427 ) that were detached from the combined convoy MKS-40/SL-149 on 1 March and escorted by H.M.S. Rockwood, only H.M.L.S.T-362 (Lieutenant R.W. Newton) was actually hit and sunk in this attack. Of the 180 on-board 15 crew and 73 army personnel were killed.

H.M. Landing Ship Tanks the same type as H.M.L.S.T. 362 (photos from Wikipedia and Navsource)

DEPLEDGE W. M.

Ordinary Seaman D/JX 563849 William Marshall DEPLEDGE.

Royal Navy H.M.S. Gould (K476)

1 Mar 1944 aged 18.

Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 88, Column 1.

William was the youngest of two sons of Jack Depledge and Olive Clayton who married at Stockport St.Mary, and lived in Bramhall.

On 29 Feb 1944, H.M.S. Gould (Lt. Daniel William Ungoed) was operating as part of the First Escort Group when she, H.M.S. Affleck, H.M.S. Gore, and the frigate H.M.S. Garlies detected the German Type VIIC U-358 (Kapitänleutnant Rolf Manke) in the North Atlantic north-northeast of the Azores and began a depth-charge attack which continued through the night and into 1 Mar 1944, the four frigates dropping a combined 104 depth charges.

H.M.S. Gore and H.M.S. Garlies were forced to withdraw to Gibraltar to refuel on 1 Mar, but H.M.S. Affleck and H.M.S. Gould continued to attack U-358. During the afternoon of 1 Mar, U-358 succeeded in torpedoing and sinking H.M.S. Gould with a G7es, known to the Allies as "GNAT", torpedo at position. The commander, six officers, and 116 ratings died in the sinking, with only 14 of H.M.S. Gould's crew survived. U-358 was soon forced to surface after 38 hours submerged and was sunk by gunfire from H.M.S. Affleck.

H.M.S. Gould (photo from Uboat.net)