See also

William Charles Andrews (1920-1940)

picture

William Charles Andrews, 1940?, age 20

Individual Events and Attributes

  • Birth:

  • Q2 1920

  • Higham (Bury St. Edmunds), Suffolk, England1 2

  • Census:

  • 19 Jun 1921 (age 1 yr 2 mns)

  • 75 Upper Green, Higham (Bury St. Edmunds), Suffolk, England2

  •  

  • son living in five rooms with his parents Horace and Emily, brothers Walter and George, and sister Emily. Born in Higham Suffolk

  • Military Service:

  • 1940 (age 19-20)

  • Royal Navy as able seman no:C/SSX 295203

  • Death:

  • 29 May 1940 (age 19-20)

  • North Sea, Zebrugge Aproaches, Belgium3

  •  

  • Cause: in action

    during Operation Dynamo when the destroyer HMS Wakeful was torpedoed whilst carrying 640 men evacuated from Dunkirk. Only four soldiers and twenty-five crew survived, they had already successfully rescued 631 troops earlier in the day

  • War Memorial:

  •  

  • Chatham Naval Memorial, Chatham, Kent, England3

  •  

  • able seaman C/SSX 29520 serving on HMS Wakeful, died 29th May 1940

Sources

1.

England and Wales Birth Index 1837 - 2023, (on-line at www.gro.gov.uk, www.findmypast.co.uk and www.ancestry.co.uk). Newmarket 1920 quarter:2 volume:3b page:987. Cit. Date: 9 January 2026.

2.

England and Wales Census 1921, (on-line at www.findmypast.co.uk). National Archive series:RG15 piece:8157 registration district:183 sub-district:1 enumeration district:10, 11, 12 schedule:4. Cit. Date: 12 January 2026.

3.

Commonwealth War Grave Commission, (on-line at www.cwgc.org). Chatham Naval Memorial 35, 1. Cit. Date: 11 January 2026.