Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Frederick Wesley Breen
In memory of:
Fireman Frederick Wesley Breen
February 23, 1945
Military Service
29
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Point Pleasant Park (Montréal, Québec)
Additional Information
June 15, 1915
Owen Sound, Ontario
Son of Alexander Albert Breen and Eliza Jane Charlton, of Owen Sound, Ontario.
On February 23, 1945, at 1:55 p.m., the Point Pleasant Park, which was about 300 miles (483 km) from the mouth of the Orange River in South Africa, was hit by a torpedo launched by U-510 directly into the crew's quarters, killing eight sailors. At 2:20 p.m., the order to abandon ship was given. At 4:15 p.m., the U-Boat surfaced and sank the wreck with the gun, position 29°42'S/09°58'E.
Commemorated on Page 100 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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Details
Newspaper clipping – From the Owen Sound Sun Times March 1945. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
Details
Memorial – The Monument at Point Pleasant Park Photographer Janet Atkinson
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