500511 Able Seaman Maurice Francis O'Brien Royal Navy HMS Forfar from:St John's Newfoundland (d.2nd Dec 1940) Maurice's brother, David also fell 28th Sept 1942 whilst serving on HM Rescue Tug Frisky. Their brother Michael was an Able Seaman in the Candian Merchant Navy fell on the 30th of March 1941
while on the SS Eastlea out of Newcastle upon Tyne. Additional Information: | Maurice was born/baptized 6 Oct 1921 in Outer Cove, Newfoundland, the youngest of 12 children born to Maurice Sr. and Margaret (nee Hickey) O'Brien. The family moved into St. John's within a few years of Maurice Jr.'s birth.
A memorial to the brothers sits on the site of their former home at Signal Hill Road, St. John's. Maurice is remembered on the Mariner's Memorial on the grounds of the Marine Institute at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Michael had another brother who died in service. He served on SS Ballot, left that ship when it was bombed and was picked up and transferred to SS Induna, which was torpedoed by U-376. He got off that vessel and drifted in the Arctic seas until picked up by a Russian boat that brought the survivors to Murmansk where he succumbed to his injuries on 12 Apr 1942.
Dale Russell FitzPatrick
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