Canadian Virtual War Memorial
John Saunderson
In memory of:
Third Radio Officer John Saunderson
November 2, 1942
North Atlantic
Military Service
18
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Hartington (London, England)(162716)
Additional Information
January 1, 1924
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Son of Henry Saunderson and Lucy Laura Wilkinson of Brixton, England. Henry enlisted in the First World War on 21 September 1914 with the 8th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force at Camp Valcartier, Quebec, regimental number 04898. A lance corporal in France and then Belgium, he was taken prisoner of war at Ypres, Belgium, on 24 April 1915 and interned in Germany. He escaped from the Lager camp in Munster and returned to England on 19 June 1916. Repatriated to Canada on 30 November 1918, he was demobilized on 17 January 1919. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
On 27 October 1942, the Hartington left Halifax, Nova Scotia, with convoy SC-107 and headed for Belfast, Northern Ireland. On 2 November, at 4:52 am, U-522 fired four torpedoes at the convoy 450 miles (724 km) east of Belle Island, Newfoundland, in North Atlantic. One of them hit the Hartington. At 6:06 am, U-438 fired a torpedo at the same ship. The ship sank at 8.40 am, position 52°30'N/45°30'W, by a coup de grâce from U-521. The captain, 21 crew members and 2 gunners lost their lives. The 17 surviving sailors and 7 gunners were picked up by HMS Winchelsea (D46) and landed in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Commemorated on Page 223 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 20.
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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