The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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235103 Seaman Charles Smith Royal Naval Reserve HMS Lanka from:Hull, England (d.7th September 1945) My uncle Charlie Smith was stationed on HMS Lanka, a Naval shore establishment on Flagstaff Street in Colombo, in close proximity to the Colombo Lighthouse. It was September 1945 and Charlie was awaiting discharge notice. Then news came back home to his wife in England that he had been killed. He was 33 he had a young wife back home in Hull, East Yorkshire and a daughter aged 6. The death letter from the MoD was short and sweet and that was it. His wife never did find out what actually happened on that fateful September day, only to say he died of oedema and asphyxia - which raised more questions than answers. I guess this is just another sad story of loss repeated throughout the length of our land where something happens and their loved ones aren't even told what occurred, even when they ask the question. Uncle Charlie's daughter Alwyn is now 77 and still hopes today find the truth. We keep on trying. He is resting at Liveramentu Cemetery near Colombo. Add to this record.  Related Content: HMS Lanka 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.