Canadian Virtual War Memorial
John Weston Williams
In memory of:
Able Seaman John Weston Williams
November 11, 1943
Mediterranean Sea
Military Service
43
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Carlier (Antwerp, Belgium)
Additional Information
January 1, 1900
Saint John, New Brunswick
Son of Charles Grierson Williams and Agnes Jean Wade from St. John, New Brunswick. Husband of Nellie Pearl Saunderson from West Saint John, New Brunswick. Father of Eunice, Clarissa Anita, William Grierson, Shirley Irene, Agnes Jean and Reita M. Williams.
On 11 November 1943, at 6.30pm, around 40 miles (64 km) from Oran in Algeria, the Carlier II was bombed and sunk by a German aircraft while sailing with convoy KMS-31. Of the 69 crew members and 22 military passengers, 48 sailors, including the captain, and 19 passengers lost their lives. The survivors were rescued by the American destroyer USS Trippe (DD-403) and landed at Oran.
Commemorated on Page 248 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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