Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Able Seaman Stoker George Henry WILLIAMS (1923-1942)

Son of Lieut. Clarence Stanley Williams and Esther Harriet Williams of Hawthorn Victoria, Australia. 

Harry enlisted in the RAN on 30 October 1940. undertaking induction and basic training at HMAS Cerberus, in Western Port Bay in November 1940 to April 1941 from when he was transported to Malta to take up a position onboard the HMAS Vampire from 8th April 1941.  He was promoted to Stoker 2 on 23rd April 1941. He saw constant action in both the Mediterranean and Asian conflict zones.

Vampire was in the escort fleet  for Alexandria on anti-submarine patrols. They were constantly under attack from Italian & German aircraft.  Her War Diary recorded that she was under repeated air attack during daylight hours and estimated that 1350 bombs were dropped on ships of the fleet being screened by Vampire.   On 13 May 1941,Vampire was assigned to the 'Tobruk Ferry Run' as the shuttle service was soon named. Two days later she sailed from Alexandria to Tobruk carrying stores and 102 troops, returning two days later with 180 wounded personnel.   On 29 May she passed through the Suez Canal en-route to Singapore, where she remained for repairs during July - November. Throughout the remainder of December, and the outbreak of war against Japan,  Vampire was kept busy escorting inward and outward convoys to Singapore and giving protection to HMS Teviot Bank during mine laying operations in the South China Sea. She barely escaped heavy attack on 26th January 1942 from Japanese destroyers.

 In March 1942 Vampire continued operating from Ceylon as a part of the British Eastern Fleet.  Meanwhile, powerful Japanese forces under the command of Vice Admiral Nagumo had sailed from Starling Bay in the Celebes on 26 March to attack Ceylon. Sailing from Colombo on the night of 8/9 April and proceeding southward they set course to return to Trincomalee.

“At 9.45 a.m. Nagumo’s carriers flew off a force of 85 bombers and nine fighters. Three-quarters of an hour later, off Batticaloa light, the south-bound Vita met the north-bound Hermes and Vampire just as the first of the Japanese bombers arrived on the scene. They disregarded the hospital ship and attacked Hermes at 10.35 in waves of dive-bombing which quickly secured hits, and within ten minutes the aircraft carrier suffered 40 direct hits and capsized and sank. Sixteen bombers then made for Vampire. Two near-misses shook the ship badly, and she was then stopped by a direct hit in the boiler room. Four hits followed in quick succession, and Vampire’s captain, Commander W. T. A. Moran, R .A.N., ordered “abandon ship”. Floats and rafts were launched when another hit broke the ship’s back. The bow sank quickly, and the stern, which floated for some time, followed at 11.02 a.m. after a heavy explosion, presumably of the magazine. According to a post-war Japanese report, Vampire was attacked with sixteen 250-kilogramme bombs, thirteen of which were direct hits. … Commander Moran, who was last seen on the bridge of Vampire, was lost with the ship, and seven ratings also lost their lives “ - Extract from Gill, G.H. (G. Hermon) Royal Australian Navy 1942-1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1968 – Page 21

As a stoker on duty in the boiler room at the time of the bombing, Harry was presumably killed at that time.  He has no known grave.