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  1. #1
    cherylj
    Guest

    Default RE: HMS Jason and El Alamein

    Hi,

    My partners Uncle Albert Taylor died on the 9th December 1941, he is listed in the El Alamein War Memorial, his Army number was 6920001 and was a Rifleman in the 2nd Battallion.

    We have not been able to ascertain what his exact cause of death was. It could be many things, he was injured on the field then caught and put on the boat as a POW, he could have drowned when the Jason was torpedoed, or he could have perhaps survived all this and died once arriving on land.

    How can we find out his cause of death, where he died and where he might be buried (this is most important to us). He did marry Amelia Joan but again we cannot trace her whereabouts or even if she is still alive, family memories are very foggy and we would love to put this mystery to rest.

    If any one has any idea on how we can obtain this information we would truly appreciate it.

    Cheers

    Cheryl

  2. #2
    Nicolina
    Guest

    Default

    there are a couple of points that catch my eye. HMS "Jason" was a Britsh minesweeper (converted for anti-submarine service) so Albert Taylor should not have been transferred to her as a POW. The Jason survived the war and was finally sold and converted to a merchantman.

  3. #3
    Geoffers
    Guest

    Default

    Does his death certificate answer any of your questions?

    See the index - GRO war deaths army, other ranks 1939-1948.

    It is available on pay-per-view sites. With the reference it contains, you can apply for a copy of the certificate from the GRO.
    Location may just be recorded as 'at sea', cause may just be as 'of wounds', from which you may be able to draw some inference.

    On 9th Dec 1941 HMS Jason was at Rosyth with a convoy.

  4. #4
    Procat
    Guest

    Default

    Hi Cherylj

    The CWGC site has this about the memorial which would indicate that your man has no known grave:

    The ALAMEIN MEMORIAL forms the entrance to Alamein War Cemetery. The Land Forces panels commemorate more than 8,500 soldiers of the Commonwealth who died in the campaigns in Egypt and Libya, and in the operations of the Eighth Army in Tunisia up to 19 February 1943, who have no known grave. It also commemorates those who served and died in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Persia. The Air Forces panels commemorate more than 3,000 airmen of the Commonwealth who died in the campaigns in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Greece, Crete and the Aegean, Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Somalilands, the Sudan, East Africa, Aden and Madagascar, who have no known grave. Those who served with the Rhodesian and South African Air Training Scheme and have no known grave are also commemorated here. The Memorial was designed by Sir Hubert Worthington and unveiled by Field Marshal The Rt. Hon. Viscout Montgomery of Alamein on 24 October 1954. EL ALAMEIN WAR CEMETERY contains the graves of men who died at all stages of the Western Desert campaigns, brought in from a wide area, but especially those who died in the Battle of El Alamein at the end of October 1942 and in the period immediately before that.

    The Pay to view site FMP has him recorded in the Army Roll of Honour 1939 - 1945 with the Theatre of War being At sea.

    The also have the index details for his death as:

    Taylor, Albert, Rank Rfn, Number 6920001, Unit Rifle Brig., Year 1941, Volume 12 Page 42? (the last digit is too blurry for me to decipher clearly).

    With this information you should be able to purchase the death certificate form the GRO. You will need to order the certificate as having occurred overseas.

    Be warned however that the certificate may not contain much information about his death given the circumstances.

    (Looks like Geoffers beat me to it)

  5. #5
    cherylj
    Guest

    Default

    I have written the wrong thing in my enquiry, here is what I found on the Internet:

    obtained by an almost equally extraordinary coincidence, of a terrible event on the bitter coast of Greece, December 9, 1941, when in a torpedoing 44 NZ POWs, desert captured, lost their lives among 500 dead desert soldiers. This was abroad the Italian POW ship Sebastoian Venier on her doomed trip from North Africa to Italy.

    She is known incorrectly in NZ official war history books and elsewhere, as Jantzen,


    but for the sake of fellow POWs, our unofficial historian uses the latter name for his account.

    So I am sorry for the confusion regarding the boat.

    We have yet to obtain his Death Certificate but feel that it will not give full details regarding his death. Thank you to everyone for their help and advice.

    Cheers


    Cheryl

  6. #6
    Geoffers
    Guest

    Default

    Sebastiano Venier was torpedoed by HM Sub Porpoise. There is a strong possibility that Albert Taylor drowned and that his body was not recovered so that there will be no place of burial - 309 British PoWs died in the sinking.

    Access to the file will be difficult from your present location, but it may be that your relative is mentioned in this file WO361/133 - held at TNA.

  7. #7
    cherylj
    Guest

    Default

    Geoff,

    Thank you for that information, could you please let me know what TNA stnads for??

    Cheers

  8. #8
    Geoffers
    Guest

    Default

    TNA = The National Archives. Click on the red link in my previous post and you will go to the catalogue entry on its web-site

    The death certificate should at least confirm if he died at sea or if he did make it ashore and died in the makeshift Italian PoW camp in which survivors were placed.

    For some information on the sinking see
    https://
    members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/maritime-1.html

  9. #9
    Newcomer to Brit-Gen
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Sydney australia
    Posts
    2

    Default

    Hi I'm Cheryl's partner...anyone know if I can find out-of Albert was taken to campo 85

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