James Ernest Lee
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: Jane and Owen Lee
Marital status: Married
Home address: Brook Road, Bootle, Lancashire
Pre-war occupation: Timber Labourer
Date of birth: 19/03/1910
Place of birth: Bootle, Lancashire
Date of death: 30/10/1942
Buried/Commemorated at: Died at sea and commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial and the Maritime Memorial Thornbury
Age: 32
Further information:
James was born and raised in Bootle. He was the youngest child of 6 with 2 sisters and 3 brothers. His father was a labourer and in 1939 James was living and working in the dock area of Bootle. James married Caroline Wallinger at the beginning of 1941.
On the day of his death James was serving aboard the British Motor Merchant 'Tasmania' part of convoy SL-125 on route from Freetown Sierra Leone to Glasgow Scotland carrying a cargo of 8500 tons of foodstuffs, tea, jute, 2000 tons of pig iron and 400 tons of ore. At 00.12 hours on 31st October 1942, the vessel was hit by two torpedoes from U-boat U-103 and sunk West of Lisbon, Portugal. One crew member, four passengers from another shipwreck and one gunner, James, were lost. There were 83 survivors.
James died on 31st October 1942 not 30th October as 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/2336.html