Peter John Pragnell
Memorial: Thornbury & District Museum: 6th Maritime Regiment Memorial
Regiment: 6th Maritime Regiment
Medals: 1939–45 Star, War Medal 1939–1945
Rank and number: Bombardier
Parents: Edwin James and Doris Evelyn Pragnell
Home address: Stoneways, High Street, Godstone, Surrey
Date of birth: 1923
Place of birth: Surrey
Date of death: 19/07/1944
Buried/Commemorated at: Died at sea and commemorated Plymouth Naval Memorial Devon and the Maritime Memorial Thornbury
Age: 21
Further information:
Peter was born and raised in Surrey, the only child of a haulage contractor. His father was aged 20 and his mother just 18 when Peter was born. Peter enlisted in the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment in 1942, volunteering later for the Maritime Regiment.
On the day of his death Peter was serving aboard the unescorted British Steam Merchant 'King Frederick' which was on route from Aden Yemen to Colombo Sri Lanka carrying a cargo of 6600 tons of salt and mail. At 17.03 hours on 19 July 1944, the vessel was hit by a torpedo from U-boat U-181 and broke up in the Arabian sea. 20 crew members, five gunners including Peter, and two passengers (military personnel) were lost. The 29 survivors abandoned ship and were picked up and landed at Aden.
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/3295.html