Canadian Virtual War Memorial
John Lawrence Smith
In memory of:
Assistant Steward John Lawrence Smith
June 27, 1941
North Atlantic
Military Service
25
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
MV Malaya II. (Glasgow, Scotland) (165982)
Additional Information
November 19, 1915
Kentville, Nova Scotia
Son of Bryan Smith and Mary Elfreda Kirkpatrick from Kentville, Kings, Nova Scotia. Husband of Ethel Alfreda Urquhart from Glenholin, Nova Scotia.
On 27 June 1941, Malaya II was sailing with convoy HX-133 when, at 1:55 a.m., she was torpedoed by U-564 east of Cape Farewell, Iceland, and sunk, position 59°56'N/30°35'W. The captain, 38 crew members and 4 gunners lost their lives. The six surviving sailors were rescued by the Canadian corvette HMCS Collingwood (K180) and landed in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Commemorated on Page 230 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 19.
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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