Frederick Horatio Atkinson Reed

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

Home address: Gateshead

Date of birth: 13/07/1912

Place of birth: Gateshead, County Durham

Date of death: 05/03/1943

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

Age: 30

Further information:

Frederick was born and raised in Gateshead, County Durham.

On the day of his death, Frederick was serving aboard the British Steam Merchant ‘Empire Tower’ which was part of convoy XK-2, on route from Huelva, Southern Spain to Middlesbrough carrying a cargo of 6532 tons of iron ore. At 17.45 hours on 5 March 1943, U-boat U-130 attacked the convoy northwest of Lisbon and sank four ships including ‘Empire Tower’, which sank within 60 seconds. The master, 35 crew members and four gunners, including Frederick, were lost. There were 6 survivors. Frederick was originally reported as missing which was changed 7 months later 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/2717.html