Able Seaman Charles Henry Parker
Merchant Navy, S.S. Thurston (West Hartlepool)
Date of Birth: 1920
Date of Death: 4th of March 1940, aged 20
Buried: Tower Hill Memorial, Panel 108.
Awarded the 1939-45 Star and the 1939-1945 War Medal
Son of George and Mary Ann Parker, of Teignmouth, Devon.
SS Thurston
At 05.23 hours on the 4th of March 1940, the unescorted SS Thurston (Master William Carr Fortune) was hit in the stern by one torpedo from U-29 and sank within one minute. It was 32 miles west by north of Trevose Head, Cornwall.
SS Thurston - Photo Courtesy of Library of Contemporary History, Stuttgart and uboat.net
The master and 33 crew members were lost. Three crew members were picked up by the British steam merchant Moyle and landed at Cardiff.
