Alfred Edward Mills

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

Regiment: 6th Maritime Regiment

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

Rank and number: Gunner

Parents: William Edward and Mary Mills

Marital status: Married

Home address: 94 Broadway, Urmston, Lancashire

Pre-war occupation: Stationery Bookbinder

Date of birth: 06/06/1916

Place of birth: Manchester

Date of death: 21/06/1943

Buried/Commemorated at: Died at sea and commemorated Plymouth Naval Memorial Devon and the Maritime Memorial Thornbury

Age: 27

Further information:

Alfred was born and raised in Manchester. He married Margaret Elizabeth Alice Monks in 1938.

On the day of his death, Alfred was serving aboard the British Steam Merchant, ‘Brinkburn’, which was part of convoy TE-22 on route from Gibraltar to Philipville (Skikda) Algeria, carrying a cargo 2500 tons of government stores, including 800 tons of ammunition. At 09.30 hours on 21 June 1943, the Brinkburn was hit by two torpedoes from U-boat U-73. The vessel exploded and sank immediately west of Algiers. The master, 21 crew members and seven gunners, including Alfred, were lost, but one crew member and one gunner were rescued and landed at Algiers. Alfred's records originally stated that he went missing but the status was eventually changed after 11 months to presumed killed in action.

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/2955.html