ABLE SEAMAN ALDON RODERICK BREWER
Roster Information Listed:
Aldon Roderick Brewer
Rank: Able Seaman (DEMS Gunner)
Service No. V/72623
Date of Death: 3/12/1944
Age 19
Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
Ship: Cornwallis, Vancouver. Tonnage 5,458 tons.
Ship Type: Steam Merchant
Cargo: Bagged Sugar, Molasses in barrels.
Convoy Route: Barbados (20/11/1944) - Sandwich, Massachusetts - St. John, New Brunswick.
Halifax Memorial: Recorded as Panel 11
(U.K.Commonwealth War Graves lists memorial on panel 35 with the following inscription: BREWER, A.B. Aldon Roderick V/72623. R.C.N.V.R. s.s. Cornwallis, (Vancouver.) 3rd December, 1944. Age 19. Son of Stanley Brewer, and of Ruth Brewer, Of Vancouver, British Columbia. Panel 35.)
Thank you to Canadian War Graves for the documented information on Aldon and the Cornwallis.
Sinking of the Cornwallis:
At 10:00 hours on 3 Dec 1944, the unescorted Cornwallis (Master was Emerson Horace Robinson) was torpedoed and sunk by a Gnat (type of torpedo) from German U-1230, 10 nautical miles off of Mount Desert Rock in the Gulf of Maine. The Master, 42 crew members including seven gunners were lost. Five survivors were picked up by the fishing vessel Notre Dame and landed at Rockland, Maine, USA.
The Cornwallis , a Canadian Merchant National Steamship was struck by torpedoes twice, once in 1942 in Barbados, repaired, then in 1944. In the Gulf of Maine she was hit by a torpedo commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hans Hilbig and his U-boat 1230, part of the U-boats commanded by Olympic officers that bore the Olympic rings as their emblem. Hans Hilbig was born 5 July 1917 in Rustringen Germany and died on 11 June 2004 at age 86. The SS Cornwallis was the only ship he sank.
Personal Information:
Aldon Roderick Brewer was born in Natal, B.C. on November 9, 1925 to Stanley and Ruth (nee Weaver) Brewer. He was the youngest of 7 siblings listed below. Aldon was not married.
Aldon and his best friend Kenneth Verdun Hopfe 1926-1944, son of Clara Marie Dosman, signed up together in Vancouver British Columbia Canada and both were gunners aboard the Cornwallis when she was sunk. (See Kenneth Hopfe Find A Grave Memorial# 26274539)
British Columbia Death reg. # 1944-09-701278 Occupation prior to enlisting: – Shipwrights, West Coast Shipyards, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Place of death: At Sea
Cause of death: Missing, presumed dead when the ship in which he was serving was lost at sea.
Siblings listed below, missing one sister; (memorial deleted by that contributor.)
Thank you to all family members who contributed to this bio.
Roster Information Listed:
Aldon Roderick Brewer
Rank: Able Seaman (DEMS Gunner)
Service No. V/72623
Date of Death: 3/12/1944
Age 19
Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
Ship: Cornwallis, Vancouver. Tonnage 5,458 tons.
Ship Type: Steam Merchant
Cargo: Bagged Sugar, Molasses in barrels.
Convoy Route: Barbados (20/11/1944) - Sandwich, Massachusetts - St. John, New Brunswick.
Halifax Memorial: Recorded as Panel 11
(U.K.Commonwealth War Graves lists memorial on panel 35 with the following inscription: BREWER, A.B. Aldon Roderick V/72623. R.C.N.V.R. s.s. Cornwallis, (Vancouver.) 3rd December, 1944. Age 19. Son of Stanley Brewer, and of Ruth Brewer, Of Vancouver, British Columbia. Panel 35.)
Thank you to Canadian War Graves for the documented information on Aldon and the Cornwallis.
Sinking of the Cornwallis:
At 10:00 hours on 3 Dec 1944, the unescorted Cornwallis (Master was Emerson Horace Robinson) was torpedoed and sunk by a Gnat (type of torpedo) from German U-1230, 10 nautical miles off of Mount Desert Rock in the Gulf of Maine. The Master, 42 crew members including seven gunners were lost. Five survivors were picked up by the fishing vessel Notre Dame and landed at Rockland, Maine, USA.
The Cornwallis , a Canadian Merchant National Steamship was struck by torpedoes twice, once in 1942 in Barbados, repaired, then in 1944. In the Gulf of Maine she was hit by a torpedo commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hans Hilbig and his U-boat 1230, part of the U-boats commanded by Olympic officers that bore the Olympic rings as their emblem. Hans Hilbig was born 5 July 1917 in Rustringen Germany and died on 11 June 2004 at age 86. The SS Cornwallis was the only ship he sank.
Personal Information:
Aldon Roderick Brewer was born in Natal, B.C. on November 9, 1925 to Stanley and Ruth (nee Weaver) Brewer. He was the youngest of 7 siblings listed below. Aldon was not married.
Aldon and his best friend Kenneth Verdun Hopfe 1926-1944, son of Clara Marie Dosman, signed up together in Vancouver British Columbia Canada and both were gunners aboard the Cornwallis when she was sunk. (See Kenneth Hopfe Find A Grave Memorial# 26274539)
British Columbia Death reg. # 1944-09-701278 Occupation prior to enlisting: – Shipwrights, West Coast Shipyards, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Place of death: At Sea
Cause of death: Missing, presumed dead when the ship in which he was serving was lost at sea.
Siblings listed below, missing one sister; (memorial deleted by that contributor.)
Thank you to all family members who contributed to this bio.
ABLE SEAMAN ALDON RODERICK BREWER
Roster Information Listed:
Aldon Roderick Brewer
Rank: Able Seaman (DEMS Gunner)
Service No. V/72623
Date of Death: 3/12/1944
Age 19
Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
Ship: Cornwallis, Vancouver. Tonnage 5,458 tons.
Ship Type: Steam Merchant
Cargo: Bagged Sugar, Molasses in barrels.
Convoy Route: Barbados (20/11/1944) - Sandwich, Massachusetts - St. John, New Brunswick.
Halifax Memorial: Recorded as Panel 11
(U.K.Commonwealth War Graves lists memorial on panel 35 with the following inscription: BREWER, A.B. Aldon Roderick V/72623. R.C.N.V.R. s.s. Cornwallis, (Vancouver.) 3rd December, 1944. Age 19. Son of Stanley Brewer, and of Ruth Brewer, Of Vancouver, British Columbia. Panel 35.)
Thank you to Canadian War Graves for the documented information on Aldon and the Cornwallis.
Sinking of the Cornwallis:
At 10:00 hours on 3 Dec 1944, the unescorted Cornwallis (Master was Emerson Horace Robinson) was torpedoed and sunk by a Gnat (type of torpedo) from German U-1230, 10 nautical miles off of Mount Desert Rock in the Gulf of Maine. The Master, 42 crew members including seven gunners were lost. Five survivors were picked up by the fishing vessel Notre Dame and landed at Rockland, Maine, USA.
The Cornwallis , a Canadian Merchant National Steamship was struck by torpedoes twice, once in 1942 in Barbados, repaired, then in 1944. In the Gulf of Maine she was hit by a torpedo commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hans Hilbig and his U-boat 1230, part of the U-boats commanded by Olympic officers that bore the Olympic rings as their emblem. Hans Hilbig was born 5 July 1917 in Rustringen Germany and died on 11 June 2004 at age 86. The SS Cornwallis was the only ship he sank.
Personal Information:
Aldon Roderick Brewer was born in Natal, B.C. on November 9, 1925 to Stanley and Ruth (nee Weaver) Brewer. He was the youngest of 7 siblings listed below. Aldon was not married.
Aldon and his best friend Kenneth Verdun Hopfe 1926-1944, son of Clara Marie Dosman, signed up together in Vancouver British Columbia Canada and both were gunners aboard the Cornwallis when she was sunk. (See Kenneth Hopfe Find A Grave Memorial# 26274539)
British Columbia Death reg. # 1944-09-701278 Occupation prior to enlisting: – Shipwrights, West Coast Shipyards, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Place of death: At Sea
Cause of death: Missing, presumed dead when the ship in which he was serving was lost at sea.
Siblings listed below, missing one sister; (memorial deleted by that contributor.)
Thank you to all family members who contributed to this bio.
Roster Information Listed:
Aldon Roderick Brewer
Rank: Able Seaman (DEMS Gunner)
Service No. V/72623
Date of Death: 3/12/1944
Age 19
Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
Ship: Cornwallis, Vancouver. Tonnage 5,458 tons.
Ship Type: Steam Merchant
Cargo: Bagged Sugar, Molasses in barrels.
Convoy Route: Barbados (20/11/1944) - Sandwich, Massachusetts - St. John, New Brunswick.
Halifax Memorial: Recorded as Panel 11
(U.K.Commonwealth War Graves lists memorial on panel 35 with the following inscription: BREWER, A.B. Aldon Roderick V/72623. R.C.N.V.R. s.s. Cornwallis, (Vancouver.) 3rd December, 1944. Age 19. Son of Stanley Brewer, and of Ruth Brewer, Of Vancouver, British Columbia. Panel 35.)
Thank you to Canadian War Graves for the documented information on Aldon and the Cornwallis.
Sinking of the Cornwallis:
At 10:00 hours on 3 Dec 1944, the unescorted Cornwallis (Master was Emerson Horace Robinson) was torpedoed and sunk by a Gnat (type of torpedo) from German U-1230, 10 nautical miles off of Mount Desert Rock in the Gulf of Maine. The Master, 42 crew members including seven gunners were lost. Five survivors were picked up by the fishing vessel Notre Dame and landed at Rockland, Maine, USA.
The Cornwallis , a Canadian Merchant National Steamship was struck by torpedoes twice, once in 1942 in Barbados, repaired, then in 1944. In the Gulf of Maine she was hit by a torpedo commanded by Kapitänleutnant Hans Hilbig and his U-boat 1230, part of the U-boats commanded by Olympic officers that bore the Olympic rings as their emblem. Hans Hilbig was born 5 July 1917 in Rustringen Germany and died on 11 June 2004 at age 86. The SS Cornwallis was the only ship he sank.
Personal Information:
Aldon Roderick Brewer was born in Natal, B.C. on November 9, 1925 to Stanley and Ruth (nee Weaver) Brewer. He was the youngest of 7 siblings listed below. Aldon was not married.
Aldon and his best friend Kenneth Verdun Hopfe 1926-1944, son of Clara Marie Dosman, signed up together in Vancouver British Columbia Canada and both were gunners aboard the Cornwallis when she was sunk. (See Kenneth Hopfe Find A Grave Memorial# 26274539)
British Columbia Death reg. # 1944-09-701278 Occupation prior to enlisting: – Shipwrights, West Coast Shipyards, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Place of death: At Sea
Cause of death: Missing, presumed dead when the ship in which he was serving was lost at sea.
Siblings listed below, missing one sister; (memorial deleted by that contributor.)
Thank you to all family members who contributed to this bio.
Gravesite Details
Able Seaman, Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve. Age: 19.
