Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Andrew Jordan Laing
In memory of:
Second Radio Officer Andrew Jordan Laing
September 20, 1941
Military Service
25
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
MV Cingalese Prince (London, England) (161263)
Additional Information
Son of the Reverend and Mrs Andrew Laing of Woodham. His father was appointed Minister of the Woodham and Zion United Churches. Jordan Laing attended St Marys Collegiate and in 1938 took radio training in Toronto, probably with the Radio College of Canada. Subsequently he worked for Marconi International Marine as a Second Radio Officer on a variety of merchant ships.
Second Radio Officer Laing served in danger zones almost continuously from 1940 onwards. He was on the SS Northern Prince when it was torpedoed and sunk on 10 April 1941. Four weeks later, he was on board another ship when it too was sunk by enemy action off Crete. Both times he was rescued. On 20 September 1941, Second Radio Officer Laing was on board the SS Cingalese Prince off the west coast of Africa when it was torpedoed and sunk at about 4p.m.
Seventeen survivors were rescued and taken to Spain. The remainder of the crew, including Jordan Laing, were missing and presumed to have been killed. Second Radio Officer Laing has no known grave but is commemorated by name on the Halifax Memorial at Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is also commemorated on a bronze plaque on the Cenotaph located in St. Marys, Ontario.
His parents as well as a brother, Russell and a sister, Marjorie, all of Woodham, survived Jordan Laing.
Commemorated on Page 168 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 18.
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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Cenotaph – Second Radio Officer Andrew Jordan Laing is also commemorated on the cenotaph in Exeter, ON … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens -
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Cenotaph – Second Radio Officer Andrew Jordan Laing is also commemorated on the cenotaph in Exeter, ON … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens -
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St Marys Cenotaph -
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St Marys Town Hall Bronze Plaque
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