Name
Thomas Owen (Jock) Ball
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
24/11/1941
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Able Seaman
P/JX 219337
Royal Navy
H.M.S. Dunedin
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL
Panel 47, Column 1.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He was born in Openshaw, Manchester on the 21st November 1917. He had attended Wilshere Dacre School and later worked for the Hitchin & Letchworth Co-Op in Nightingale Rd, Hitchin. He played the accordion with the Serenaders Dance Band.
He joined the Royal Navy in September 1940, was given Service Number P/JX219337 and trained on the shore-base H.M.S. ‘Ganges’. He then went on active service and was reported missing and later presumed killed. He was in the crew of H.M.S. ‘Dunedin’ which was a cruiser of 4,850 tons built in 1918. The German submarine U-126 was taking on board survivors from the Auxiliary Cruiser ‘Schiff 16 Atlantis’ and was to be assisted by U-124. On her way to the area, the U-124, commanded by Commander Mohr, came across the unescorted ‘Dunedin’ at 12.26hrs on the 24th November 1941, 900 miles west of Freetown at about 03N 26W. She attacked the British ship and sank it with the loss of 26 Officers and 392 Ratings killed. 72 members of the crew were rescued on the 27th November by a U.S. merchant ship.
His body was never found, and he is remembered on Panel 47 Column 1 on the Portsmouth Memorial to the Missing.
He was the only son of Thomas and Janet Ball of 16, Brampton Park Rd, Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Paul Johnson., local historian, ‘Warship Losses in World War II’ by D. Brown, ‘U-Boat Operations of the 2nd World War’ by K. Wynn, Herts Pictorial dated 16th & 22nd Dec 1941
