I continue to be contacted by the families of men who were saved or died on the night of 11 – 12 November 1942 when HMS Hecla was torpedoed. Yesterday Ken Johnson was wearing his uncle’s medals at the war memorial in Bury where AB Herbert Johnson died in 1982 sixty years after HMS Hecla was torpedoed and hundreds of his shipmates killed. Herbert Henry Johnson was on Hecla when she was the destroyer depot ship for the Atlantic escorts at Havelfjord, Iceland, but left her on the Clyde or at South Africa, a lucky escape. There were 190 stokers aboard Hecla when she was torpedoed. William T Fox and Thomas D.A. Waldock were both Stokers 1st Class, shared the stokers’ Mess and died together. Denise Jefford is the grand daughter of William Fox, a family secret confirmed by a DNA test. Jim Waldock was one year old when his elder brother was killed and is hoping to trace a photograph of him. Petty Officer Henry P Holcombe was awarded the BEM for his bravery when Hecla was mined off the tip of South Africa but lost his own life when Hecla was torpedoed leaving a widow and a son without a father. So many family stories are linked to the loss of HMS Hecla at midnight on 11 November 1942. Get in touch if you have further details or photographs of these four men or have a family story of your own to tell. The names of ALL the men aboard HMS HECLA on that fateful night can be seen here: http://www.holywellhousepublishing.co.uk/crew_list-hecla.ht… Bill Forster son of Lt(E) William Redvers Forster RNR HMS Venomous My father, Lt(E) W.R. Forster RNR, joined Venomous during her refit at Falmouth in 1944
I can't see how to correct an error in my post above but would like you all to know that Ken Johnson was wearing his father's medals and NOT those of his Uncle. And also mention that the 850 names on the CREW LIST link to brief accounts of the lives of about 100 men serving in VENOMOUS, some told first hand but most relayed to me by their families. Only one survivor of the disaster is known to be alive today. The image is the back cover of A HARD FOUGHT SHIP (2017) by Rodgaard and Moore.
