Canadian Virtual War Memorial
William Norval Turnbull
In memory of:
First Mate William Norval Turnbull
October 17, 1915
Military Service
57
Merchant Navy
Canadian Merchant Navy
S.S. Dunelm (Montréal, Québec) (123950)
Additional Information
January 1, 1858
Bay View, Nova Scotia
Son of George Andrew Turnbull and Jane Hallet Arnold from St. John, New Brunswick. Husband of Matilda Jane Ellis from Bay View, Nova Scotia. Father of Dolores Ellis, Nelson Cumberland, William Arnold and Gordon Robert Turnbull.
This ship, designed for the Great Lakes, was requisitioned and used for purposes other than its construction allowed. On her second Atlantic crossing, she left the port of North Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, on 15 October 1915 without radio equipment. On the 17th she was seen passing Cape Race, Newfoundland. She was officially reported missing on 12 January 1916 with her crew of twenty sailors. No German submarine claimed to have sunk her.
Commemorated on Page 70 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 3.
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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