| Notes |
- England GRO Births Index
Q 31 Dec 1923, Kent James W., Clothier, Elham, Vol 2a, Page 1828
Died during WW2 when ship was sunk by the Japanese
My brother, Jim, was carrying troops on the SS Anking to Australia and his ship was torpedoed in the Java Seas. He was 18 years old. Helena Kent 13 Jun 2005
naval-history.net
KEMT, James W, Ordinary Signalman, C/JX 269705, Anking, 4 March 1942, ship loss, MPK
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
cwgc.org
Name: KENT James William
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Ordinary Signalman
Regiment/Service: Royal Navy
Unit Text: H.M.S. Anking
Date of Death: 04/03/1942
Service No: C/JX 171798
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: 59, 1.
Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
ww2australia.gov.au
Ordinary Seaman William Witheriff was one of the Yarra survivors who floated for five days on an open raft. Only thirteen of the original group were still alive when they were rescued by the crew of a Dutch submarine.The men were taken to a hospital in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where William described his ordeal in this letter to his parents.
HMAS Yarra was sunk on 4 March 1942,approximately 500 kilometres south of central Java (modern Indonesia). Yarra was escorting a convoy of three ships - a tanker, a small minesweeper and a depot ship - away from the fighting during the Japanese invasion of Java. Although his convoy was vastly outnumbered by the enemy warships, Yarra's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Commander Robert Rankin, positioned his ship between the convoy and the enemy and put up a brave fight. Just 90 minutes later Yarra was on fire, listing heavily to port and only just afloat. The three ships in the convoy had been sunk. Rankin ordered his crew to abandon ship and just moments later he and those on the bridge were killed by a salvo of Japanese shells.
Most of the crew abandoned their ship but Leading Seaman Ronald Taylor, the captain of the last remaining gun, disregarded the order and continued firing until he was killed and his gun silenced.
One of the Japanese destroyers picked up a boatload of survivors from the convoy but more than 100 others were left in the water. Amongst those left drifting in Carley floats were 34 of the Yarra's crew. By the time they were eventually rescued on 9 March, only 13 of the original crew of 151 officers and men in Yarra had survived. Another 25 RAN ratings and an officer were lost in the SS Anking, one of the other vessels in the Yarra convoy. [AWM PR91/090]
Depot ship HMS Anking was sunk by Japanese Gunfire at 06:30 on 4 March along with HMAS Yarra, MMS51 and Francol. _ diggerhistory.info
HMS Anking, a depot ship for the RN at Batavia, (now Jakarta). When the capture of Java by the Japanese was imminent, Anking formed part of a small convoy which sailed for Australia. The convoy was intercepted by Japanese warships just after sunrise on 4 March 1942, about 280 miles south-east of Tjilatjap (today Cilacap) near the centre of the south coast of Java. The convoy was annihilated. frontiermedals.com/british
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1923 - 1942 (18 years)
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: Location
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