Month: November 2011

Logbooks tell all

Click here…

This is the author’s introduction,

From an early age in life I have been interested in aviation and military aviation in particular. Being born in the city of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and having a grandfather that fought with the Dutch Forces in WW2, this era has always been an important part in my life. For quite some years now, I have been collecting aviation memorabilia, with a main interest in the exploits of the Royal Air Force during World War II. They paid an immense price for our freedom and deserve our gratitude. Having moved to Lincolnshire, UK, several years ago, better known as “Bomber County”, it brought me closer to ‘where it all happened’. I live on the outskirts of the old RAF Waltham these days and have a few friends that have actually been there.

Log Books are the summum of my collection. To me, these are very personal documents which tell a tale of one particular person’s experiences. I therefor decided to build this website in order to share some of these ‘stories’. I hope you will enjoy them.

Searching and Finding Able Seaman Thomas De La Hunt Malone

John Hawley found him…

He sent me this e-mail…

For your information.

If you open the You Tube

Deep Wreck Mysteries – Fatal Decision part 2/4” you will see a photograph of Able Seaman Thomas De La Hunt Malone age 22.

For me there is more meaning and perspective when I can see a picture of the “brave young man” who lies in a loney grave in a
faraway land (Pounstock, Cornwall, UK.)

His photograph appears at approximately the 6 minutes – 16 seconds into the Part 2/4 You Tube video.

John

The whole documentary:

Click here for Part 1…

Click here for Part 2…

Click here for Part 3

Click here for Part 4 

Lest We Forget…

Able SeamanThomas De La Hunt Malone

This is what I found on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial site.

In memory of
Able Seaman
THOMAS DE LA HUNT  MALONE
who died on August 8, 1944

Military Service:

Service Number: V/48090
Age: 22ith
Force: Navy
Unit: Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
Division: H.M.C.S. Regina

Additional Information:

Son of Thomas De La Hunt Malone and Antoinette Saucier Malone, of Three Rivers. Province of Quebec, Canada.

John asked me to contact the site to post the picture of the grave of Able Seaman Malone.

I did just that.

With this info found on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial I was able to trace Thomas de La Hunt Malone’s parents in genealogy databanks.

His parents Thomas Malone and Antoinette Saucier got married on April 30, 1919 in Montreal.

Thomas Malone was the son of Thomas Malone and Mary-Clare Walsh.

Antoinette Saucier was the daughter of Jean-Ernest Saucier and Antoinette Lamontagne.

This is a start.

I will try to see if I can find any brothers or sisters of Thomas.

Finding relatives won’t be easy, but then yesterday I got this comment on my blog… about this sailor.

The son of Petty Officer William Cramp who died when the HMCS Regina sank, Bill Cramp, member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 143 in Ontario was our guest on November 10th, 2011.

His father died when he was only 12 years old.

The other son has written a book about his father.

You can contact Bill Cramp at the Legion.

Hope this help to find the descendants of the three soldiers on the grave markers.

I contacted John who will probably contact this person.

I know he will.

HMCS Regina revisited once more

These are the two other monuments John Hawley took pictures of on his trip to England.

I told John we could send them to the Canadian Virtual War Memorial site since they have almost nothing on those five sailors except this.

Some relatives must have sent those.

So we just have to fill in the form like those relatives did and hope for the best. 

It would be a way to reach out for relatives.

It’s worth a try…

As a footnote, life was not that easy on a Corvette during WWII.

You just have to read the article I posted on my other blog Remembering HMCS Regina.

I wrote an article with links about two other sailors so it’s easy to imagine how rough it was for those five sailors who gave their lives for their country.

When John Hawley asked me for my help, I felt I had to do something.

And the thing I do best is to write… and search like corvettes did during WWII.

Search for survivors and save them or search for U-Boats and destroy them.

War is hell.

Sailors from both camps had to kill each other in order to survive…

Some never came back.

Those who came back never forgot… and most never talked about it.

HMCS Regina revisited

I had written two articles in 2009 about that ship that I had never heard before just like I had never heard about HMCS Athabaskan before my wife’s uncle talked about it in the summer of 2009.

Click here.

Then click here…

That last article is the reason why John Hawley wrote a comment during my Rememberance Week 2011.

This is the picture he took in a cemetery… and that he sent me.


collection John Hawley

We see the monuments of three sailors who died when HMCS Regina K234 was torpedoed on August 8, 1944.

John’s father was a sailor on that ship as you can read in his e-mail.

Our father (still alive (age 86) and living in Port Hope Ontario served on HMCS Regina K234 and survived her sinking. He lost many friends and shipmates that night.

On a recent visit to the UK (September 2011) we had the honour and priviledge to visit the graves of five of these brave men in Cornwall, UK. We paid our respects and gratitude to AB Saulnier, Rathbone at St Merryn near Padstow and PO. Cramp, AB Dawson and AB Malone at St Winwaloe Churchyard. Poundstock. UK.

I am in the process of trying to find their descendants.

Have many photographs of their graves and the church areas. Willing to send to anyone interested.
Also remember there are 25 men from Regina who are still out there.

Sincerely, John Hawley, Cole Harbour, NS

This sentence in his message struck me…

I am in the process of trying to find their descendants.

This is exacty what I did back in 2009 with one sailor with a French-Canadian name. 

In memory of
Leading Stoker
CHARLES OMER  DENONCOURT
who died on August 8, 1944

Military Service:

Service Number: V/4525
Age: 21
Force: Navy
Unit: Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
Division: H.M.C.S. Regina

Additional Information:

Son of Alfred Denoncourt, and of Elodie Denoncourt, of Montreal, Province of Quebec.

This sailor has no monument because he is part of the… 25 men from Regina who are still out there.

So John has come to the right place to get some help with this since genealogy is my forte.

I know a relative of one of HMCS Athabaskan’s sailors who knows what this blog can do…

We will try next time to find Able Seaman Malone’s relatives and help John in his search for relatives.

Of course the right thing to do was to start a new blog to know what I am talking about before paying homage to all those sailors who served on HMCS Regina.

Click on the image.