Howard Usher

Memorial: Thornbury & District Museum: 6th Maritime Regiment Memorial

Regiment: 6th Maritime Regiment

Medals: 1939–45 Star, War Medal 1939–1945

Rank and number: Lance Bombardier

Parents: Howard and Ellen Georgina Usher

Home address: 48 Luton Road, Faversham, Kent

Pre-war occupation: Brewery Labourer

Date of birth: 13/01/1912

Place of birth: Faversham, Kent

Date of death: 25/03/1942

Buried/Commemorated at: Died at sea and commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial and the Maritime Memorial Thornbury

Age: 30

Further information:

Howard was born in Faversham Kent, the son of a coal man with 3 older sisters. In 1939 he was living with his recently widowed mother.

On the day of his death Howard was serving aboard the unescorted British Motor Tanker 'Naragansett' on route from Port Arthur Texas to Halifax Canada, then on to the UK. The ship was carrying a cargo of 14,000 tons of clean petroleum product. At 06.09 hours on 25th March 1942 the vessel was hit by two torpedoes from U-boat U-105 about 400 miles east of Hampton Roads, Virginia and sank burning 9 minutes later. The master, 42 crew members and six gunners were lost. There were no survivors.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1472.html