Frederick Herbert Bradbear
Memorial: South Gloucestershire war dead not on a local memorial
Regiment: Royal Navy
Medals: 1939–45 Star, War Medal 1939–1945
Rank and number: Engine Room Artificer 4th Class D/MX 71930
Parents: Henry and Ellen Edith Bradbear
Marital status: Married
Home address: Home Address: 60 King Street, Kingswood. Lived: Fairfield Place, Longwell Green.
Pre-war occupation: Locomotive Engineer Fitter
Date of birth: 03/06/1918
Place of birth: Kingswood, Brsitol
Date of death: 17/01/1942
Buried/Commemorated at: Died at sea. Commemorated at Plymouth Naval Memorial. Not commemorated on a local memorial
Age: 23
Further information:
Frederick was born in Kingswood, the youngest of two children with an older sister Gertrude. Frederick married Winifred Irene Harding at the beginning of 1941 and the couple were married for just a year before Frederick died.
On the day of his death Frederick's ship The Matabele, a Royal Navy Destroyer, was escorting convoy PQ-8 on route from the UK to Murmansk when it was hit by in the stern by a torpedo from U-boat U-454. This caused her magazines to blow up and the ship sank within two minutes off Kola Inlet. The survivors were unable to release the Carley floats as they were frozen to their lashings and had to jump overboard. Some of them were killed when the depth charges of the sinking destroyer detonated, but most died of hypothermia in the icy water before they could be rescued. A total of 236 men died including Frederick, with just two 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/1257.html