Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Reginald Keech
In memory of:
Ordinary Seaman Reginald Keech
April 20, 1917
Military Service
VR/3239
16
Navy
Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve
H.M. Trawler
Additional Information
Son of John Henry and Alice Georgina Keech, of 14, Dennis Avenue, Mount Dennis, Ontario.
Commemorated on Page 266 of the First World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.
Burial Information
HALIFAX MEMORIAL
Nova Scotia, Canada
Panel 1.
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.
Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Digital Collection
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Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Telegram April 1917. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
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Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Telegram July 1917. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
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Memorial Album – Photo from the National Memorial Album of Canadian Heroes c.1919. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me. -
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Photo of REGINALD KEECH – Photo from the National Memorial Album of Canadian Heroes c.1919. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me. -
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Inscription – The panel of the Halifax Memorial at Point Pleasant in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada whereon Reginald Keech's name is inscribed. Image taken November 2017 by Tom Tulloch -
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Photo – An armed trawler of the Royal Navy in service in World War I, similar to HM Trawler Loch Eye, in which Reginald Keech was serving when it was sunk on 20 April 1917. HM Trawler Loch Eye (Admiralty Number 2965) was a 225 grt, Aberdeen-registered vessel built in 1916 by J. Duthie (Torry) Shipbuilders Co., Aberdeen, and owned by the Empire Steam Fishing Company Limited, Aberdeen. She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy in September 1916 and converted to a minesweeper, armed with a 6-pounder gun. Loch Eye was sunk on Friday 20 April 1917 by a mine from the German submarine UC-33, 1¼ miles southwest of Hook Point, near Dunmore, off the coast of Ireland. Seven men were lost, including Ordinary Seaman Reginald Keech, RCNVR. UC-33 sunk 35 allied ships including one warship, and was herself rammed and sunk by patrol boat PC61 on 26 September 1917 in St George's Channel.
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