Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Oskar Charles Swendsen
In memory of:
Second Engineer Oskar Charles Swendsen
April 30, 1944
Barents Sea
Military Service
47
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. William S. Thayer (Baltimore, Maryland) (243994)
Additional Information
February 17, 1897
Copenhagen, Denmark
Son of G. Charles Swendsen and Mary Gensen from Denmark. Husband of Annie Ganaway from Lac Gaburus, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
On 30 April 1944, the William S. Thayer was sailing with convoy RA-59 when she was torpedoed by U-307 50 miles (80 km) south of Bear Island in the Barents Sea, position 73°46'N/19°10'W. The bow sank in 30 seconds, the centre about two minutes later. Of the crew, 6 officers, 17 crew members, 7 gunners and 13 passengers lost their lives. The 191 survivors were rescued by the SS Robert Eden and the HMS Whitehall (D94).
Commemorated on Page 236 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.
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