The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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208036 Wren Gertrude "Paddy" Canning Women's Royal Naval Service HMS Quebec from:Ballindrait, Lifford, Ireland (d.30th Jun 1942) I would like to let you know of my Aunt Gertrude Canning in the hope that there are still some of her old "chums" with us today. We, Gertrude's family, have been looking for someone that served with her on HMS Quebec the Special Operations Training Camp in Inveraray, Scotland. Unfortunately, her time in the service,WRNS,was tragically cut short. Gertrude was coming back to her base on June 30th 1942 when she was murdered in woods close to her camp. She became the subject of a 4 day search. When her body was found in undergrowth, close to the "Marriage tree" it was discovered that she'd been shot 4 times with a .38 revolver. Her killer was never found despite a nationwide investigation and thousands of ballistic tests on revolvers. It is thought her killer was probably a casualty of the disastrous Dieppe raid. Next June 30th my family will travel to Inveraray to dedicate a bench and brass plate to her memory on the 70th anniversary of her death. I am pleased to share this information with all. If anyone wants to read about the case, please go to the web and type,"Gertrude Canning murder". I hope to get some feedback through this and especially from a Wren, soldier, or civilian that knew her in Inveraray back in 1942. Sadly,many servicemen and women of that time have passed on, but I live in hope as they say. Gertrude's story has recently been told in the Argyll Advertiser,The Scottish Herald and The Scottish Daily Mail. Strathclyde are still treating it as a live enquiry and the case is now the subject of a review. Joseph Canning Add to this record.  Related Content: Womens Royal Naval Service HMS Quebec Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.