Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Francis John Brittle
In memory of:
Chief Engineer Francis John Brittle
August 26, 1944
Military Service
32
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Ashmun J. Clough (London, England) (169602)
Additional Information
April 2, 1912
Toronto, Ontario
On August 26, 1944, with convoy EBC-82, she was to deliver 1,200 tons of military supplies to Utah Beach, Normandy, France, when she was torpedoed at 8:30 a.m. and sunk by U-989 north of Cherbourg, Brittany, France, position 50°10'N/01°41'W. Her captain, eleven crew members and four gunners lost their lives. The fifteen surviving sailors were recovered by the British speedboat HMS ML-450 which transferred them to the British corvette HMS Azalea (K25). They were disembarked in Cherbourg.
Commemorated on Page 101 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 23.
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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