Mess Room Boy James Stephen Vatcher

Son of Stephen Arthur Vatcher and Elizabeth Etta Livingstone from Kénogami, Québec. During the First World War, Stephen enlisted on 11 November 1914, service number 63889, at Camp Valcartier, Quebec. A corporal in the 23rd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, he landed in France on 26 April 1915. He also fought in Belgium with the 4th Battalion. He returned to Canada on 9 February 1919, and was demobilized in Quebec City on 12 March with the rank of Company Sergeant Major of the 5th Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops. He was awarded the Class A, then Class B Good Conduct Badge, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Brother of Pilot Officer Richard Robert Vatcher, serial number J-90070, of 426 Canadian Squadron, who was killed in action on 29 July 1944 during an air raid on Hamburg, Germany.

On 18 November 1941, the Groenlo left in convoy from Hartlepool, England, for London, via Middlesborough, when on the 24th she was torpedoed and sunk by the German speedboat S-52, of the 4th Flotilla, while experiencing boiler problems. Nine sailors lost their lives and a tenth died later.