George Edward May

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: Edward George and Elizabeth May

Home address: 7 Wern Terrace, Swansea

Date of birth: 1921

Place of birth: Swansea

Date of death: 31/10/1942

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

Age: 21

Further information:

George was born and raised in Swansea. He was the son of a manual worker and the second eldest of 7 children.

George was one of 12 gunners serving aboard the British Motor Merchant vessel ‘Aldington Court’. The ship had originally been part of convoy TRIN-16 but the convoy had dispersed 2 weeks previously. The now unescorted vessel was travelling from Trinidad to South Africa on route to Alexandria, carrying a cargo of 6614 tons of government stores and general cargo, including coal, tractors, fuel and beer. The ship was hit by 2 torpedoes from U-172 about 1000 miles west of Port Nolloth, South West Africa. After 10 minutes, the vessel rolled over and sank but 38 survivors (from a complement of 44) managed to abandon ship successfully. 28 boarded a lifeboat and 10 a Jolly boat. Both boats made for land but became separated and the lifeboat was never seen again. The 10 survivors from the Jolly boat were rescued by another ship on the 13th November. George was one of 34 fatalities and was originally reported as missing. This was changed to presumed killed in action but not until 18 months had elapsed.

His date of death is incorrectly recorded as 18th February 1942 on Memorial.

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/2333.html