John Francis Buckland
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
Parents: Gladys and Frederick Buckland
Home address: 3 Court Farm Road, Warmley, Bristol
Date of birth: 1920
Date of death: 11/11/1942
Buried/Commemorated at: Died at sea and commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial and the Maritime Memorial Thornbury
Age: 22
Further information:
John was born in Bristol and his father was a painter and decorator.
On the day of his death, John was serving aboard the unescorted British steam merchant, the City of Ripon, which was on route from Cape Town to Trinidad carrying a cargo of 2000 tons of sand as ballast. At 08.01 hours on 11 Nov 1942 about 90 miles northwest of Georgetown, British Guiana, the vessel was hit aft by a torpedo from U-boat U-160. The vessel sank after 10 minutes, following two further hits. 52 crew members and four gunners, including John, were lost. 22 survivors were picked up by a Brazilian steam merchant and landed in Trinidad.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
With kind permission of Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the Second World Stories Project.
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/
Reproduced with the kind permission of Findmypast: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
http://www.ancestry.co.uk
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/2406.html