Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Robert Cloran
In memory of:
Seaman Robert Cloran
January 2, 1943
South Atlantic
Military Service
28
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Empire March (Barrow, England)(167743)
Additional Information
January 1, 1915
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Son of Robert Cloran and Mary Matilda Peck. Husband of Alice Maria Double, of Tower Hamlets, London, England.
After leaving the port of Calcutta, India, on 1st December 1942, she arrived in Durban, South Africa, on the 18th. The Empire March set sail again, and when it reached a position about 150 miles (242 km) north-west of Tristan da Cunha, in the South Atlantic, it was intercepted by the German raider Michel (HSK-9), which attacked it with cannon and sank it on 2 January 1943, in position 37°S/12°W. Of her crew, 33 lost their lives. The captain and 24 other sailors were taken prisoner of war.
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 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.
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