William John Samuel
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: John and Florence Louise Samuel
Marital status: Married
Home address: Mount Pleasant, Poole, Dorset
Date of birth: 1907
Place of birth: Mountain Ash, Glamorgan
Date of death: 20/12/1942
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 Mountain Ash, Glamorgan, and was the son of a coal miner. He and his wife (Edith) May Samuel had 2 children. In 1939 William was serving with the Green Howards Yorkshire Regiment and later served with the South Wales Borderers before volunteering for the Maritime Regiment.
On the day of his death William was serving aboard the British Motor Merchant 'Otina' a straggler from convoy ON-153, on route from Belfast to New York carrying a cargo of ballast. At 20.21 hours on 20 Dec 1942 the vessel was hit by two torpedoes from U-boat U-621 and sank 45 minutes later west of Ireland. The master, 52 crew members and seven gunners, including William, were lost. There were no survivors. William was initially reported as missing which was changed to presumed killed in action 14 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/2526.html