Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Walter Varley Standing
In memory of:
Fireman Walter Varley Standing
July 2, 1940
North Atlantic
Military Service
49
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Arandora Star (London, England) (149837)
Additional Information
March 10, 1891
Chinguacousy, Ontario
Son of Robert Standing and Margaret Bell of Windsor, Ontario. Brother of Private Robert Oswald Standing, regimental number 512401, Divisional Supply Column, who fought in France in the First World War. He survived the war.
On 2 July 1940, the Arandora Star left the port of Liverpool, England, with 1,673 people on board, including 1,299 internees and prisoners of war. At 7:58 am, she was torpedoed by U-47 about 125 miles (201 km) north-west of Malin Head, Donegal, Ireland, and sank with the loss of the captain, 12 officers, 42 crew members, 37 guards, 470 Italians and 243 Germans, position 56°30'N/10°38'W. The remaining 119 crew members, 163 guards, 585 Italians and Germans were rescued by the Canadian destroyer HMCS St-Laurent (H83) and landed at Greenock, Scotland.
Commemorated on Page 233 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 17.
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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