LEIGH, James Robert

Normanston Drive Cemetery, Lowestoft, UKCredit: Unknown

Able Seaman
HMS Vortigern - V Class Destroyer
Royal Navy

James was born 1917 in Newport to Albert Henry & Kate (nee BRADING) LEIGH.

On the 15th of March 1942, while escorting southbound Convoy FS.749 she was torpedoed & sank, in about 2 minutes, off Cromer on the Norfolk coast by German E-boat S-104. 147 of the 159 crew were lost, including James, aged 24. His body was recovered from the sea & he now rests at Normanston Road Cemetery in Lowestoft beneath a Commission Headstone bearing the Family Inscription: “DEEP IN OUR HEARTS A MEMORY IS KEPT OF ONE WE LOVED AND SHALL NEVER FORGET”.

James is also remembered on the Newport Borough War Memorial.

CWGC Casualty Record

Cemetary

Sons & Daughters Commemorated Far From Home

Those from the Newport & Carisbrooke area who are buried or commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission outside of the area, both in the UK and in other countries.

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The image is of the Tyne Cot Military Cemetery & Memorial in Belgium.