Ajax Veterans Street Dedication: Chadwick Drive

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Description

Street Name: Chadwick Drive
Name of Veteran: Colin E. Chadwick 1922-Oct. 1, 2012
Rank: Able Seaman
Ship Served: HMS Ajax
Date of Service on Ship: 1939 to 1941
Year of Visit/Dedication: n/a
Veteran or Family Visit: n/a
Veteran of the Battle of the River Plate: Yes
Died at Battle: No

Colin Chadwick joined the Royal Navy on January 31, 1938. At the time of the Battle of the River Plate he was only seventeen years old and at the rank of Boy.

Colin was on HMS Jackal when it sank in the Mediterranean. It was on May 10, 1942 that the 14th Destroyer Flotilla (HMS Jackal, Jervis, Kipling and Lively) set out from Alexandria to transport supplies to Malta. By the following day, German aircraft bombers arrived and immediately sank HMS Lively. HMS Kipling was the next to sink while the Jackal was severely damaged. HMS Jervis began towing the Jackal even though she was already on fire and flooding. The ship was abandoned on the morning of May 12 and scuttled by Jervis. Nine officers and men from HMS Jackal were killed. In total, seventy seven men were lost from the three destroyers.

Colin served the Royal Navy for fifteen years, retiring on June 4, 1953. He died on October 1, 2012 at the age of ninety.

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