Our Chairman David Wood gave a talk with a presentation about four men of his family who died whilst serving in the first and second world wars. This is an update to his previous talk given some 10 years ago.
David has since found an ancestor who was part of an aircrew shot down over occupied Europe. Only one crew member, not David's ancestor, survived and he went on to take part in 'the great escape'.
Another story was the sad tale of the sinking of the Japanese ship Junyo Maru by a British submarine, HMS Tradewind off Sumatra in 1944.. Unknown to the crew of the Tradewind the Junyo Maru was carrying approximately 6,500 allied POWs and forced labourers. The sinking of the Junyo Maru has gone down as one of the worst maritime disasters in history with a loss of over 5,000 souls including David's ancestor Geoffrey Austen.