Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Joseph Briand
In memory of:
Chief Engineer Joseph Briand
March 16, 1942
Military Service
43
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Sarniadoc (Fort William, Ontario)
Additional Information
September 5, 1898
L’Ardoire, Richmond, Nova Scotia
Son of Thomas Guillaume Briand and Virginia M. Briand, of L’Ardoire, Nova Scotia. Husband of Mary Dinna (aka Nina) Malony, of Samsonville, Nova Scotia.
His brother, Thomas Apollinaire Paul Briand was conscripted during the First World War and enlisted on February 18, 1918, with the 1st Battalion Nova Scotia Regiment, regimental number 4050193. He was demobilized without ever having been overseas or in combat.
At 2:30 a.m. on March 14, 1942, the Sarniadoc was sailing unescorted to St Thomas, in the Virgin Islands, when she was hit by a torpedo, behind the funnel, launched by U-161 200 miles (322 km) west of Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean, and sank in less than 30 seconds with her crew of 21 men, in position 15°45'N/65°00'W.
Commemorated on Page 101 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.
Digital Collection
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Details
Newspaper Clipping – Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me
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