William Harry Usher
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
Marital status: Married
Home address: 19 Moscow Drive, Liverpool
Pre-war occupation: Newsvendor
Date of birth: 21/04/1907
Place of birth: Lancashire
Date of death: 28/12/1942
Buried/Commemorated at: Died at sea and commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial and the Maritime Memorial Thornbury
Age: 35
Further information:
William was born in Lancashire. He was the son of a postman and had a younger brother. William married Mary E Mason in 1933 and together they had 4 children, the youngest being just 4 years old when William was killed.
On the day of his death William was serving aboard the British Steam Merchant 'Baron Cochrane' a straggler from convoy ONS-154 on route from Belfast to Pernambuco Brazil carrying a cargo of 4376 tons of coal. At 23.17 hours on 28 Dec 1942 U-boat U-406 fired 5 torpedoes at the convoy damaging 3 ships including the Baron Cochrane. The vessel was then sunk by a further torpedo from a second U-boat U-123 at 00.53 hours on 29 December. William and the chief engineer were the only casualties and the 42 survivors were picked up and landed at Ponta Delgada, Azores. William was originally reported as missing which was changed to killed in action 8 months later.
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/2549.html