Canadian Virtual War Memorial
William Elward
In memory of:
Able Seaman William Elward
May 1, 1944
South Atlantic
Military Service
38
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Janeta II (Glasgow, Scotland)(161894)
Additional Information
January 1, 1906
Kingston, Kent, New Brunswick
Son of Guillaume (aka William) Elward and Salomé Doucet, of Richibucto Village, Kent, New Brunswick.
On 1 May 1941, at 4.11 am, the Janeta II was torpedoed by U-181 900 miles (1,448 km) south-west of Ascension Island, off the coast of Brazil, in position 18°14'S/20°00'W. Of the crew of 48 sailors, nine and four gunners lost their lives. On the 12th, the American destroyer escort USS Alger (DE-101) rescued ten of them. On the 14th, fifteen others were picked up by the Swedish cargo ship Freja south of Bahia and taken back to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The captain and nine sailors reached Belmonte on the 17th and were rescued on the 20th by a small coaster that landed them in Bahia.
Commemorated on Page 132 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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