Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Alexander Holmans
In memory of:
Able Seaman Alexander Holmans
May 19, 1943
Caribbean Sea
Military Service
19
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
SV Angelus (Montréal, Québec)
Additional Information
November 30, 1923
Belleoram, Newfoundland and Labrador
His full name is Alexander M. Holmans.
Son of Arthur James Holmans and Margaret Patterson Moncrief of Belleoram, Newfoundland. Arthur served in the First World War, service number 5617. Brother of Private Jeremiah Holmans of the Newfoundland Regiment. He fought in Europe in the First World War.
On 19 May 1943, at 11:30 a.m., the three-masted sailing ship Angelus was intercepted and sunk by gunfire by U-161 north of Bermuda, position 38°40'N/64°00'W. When the lifeboats were located five days later by the US destroyer USS Turner (DD-648) only two of the occupants were still alive. The others were swept away by the strong sunlight. The two survivors were landed in Portland, Maine, USA, on 27 May.
Commemorated on Page 156 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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Newspaper Clipping – Memorialized on the pages of the Globe and Mail. Submitted for the project, Operation Picture Me -
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Merchant Navy Monument in St. John's, NL -
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Dedication
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