Assistant Cook L.E. Clark

Lionel Elderton Clark, Assistant Cook, 118385, Naval Auxiliary Personnel (Merchant Navy). Lionel was born in Sussex in 1916, the son of Robert Charles Clark and Clara Elizabeth Elderton Clark. Robert had moved the family to Tenby during the Great War, where he was an instructor with the local Royal Garrison Artillery. Lionel was educated at Tenby Council School and Greenhill School, before joining the Merchant Navy, and served aboard HMS Jervis Bay as an Assistant Cook. 23 years old when listed as Missing, Presumed Killed, he is commemorated on the Liverpool Naval Memorial. His brother, Eric Henry Clark also fell.

Eric Henry Clark, Cabin Boy, Merchant Navy. Eric was born at Narberth in 1922, the son of Robert Charles Clark and Clara Elizabeth Elderton Clark. Eric was educated at Greenhill School, before joining the Merchant Navy, and served aboard S.S. Mill Hill, a Newcastle-on-Tyne registered cargo vessel. On 16 August 1940 Mill Hill left Halifax, Nova Scotia as a member of convoy HX-66A laden with pig iron and scrap steel, bound for Middleborough. Early in the morning of 30 August 1940, she was 58 miles off Cape Wrath in the north of Scotland, when she was torpedoed by the German Submarine U-32, sinking within a few minutes with the loss of all hands. Eric was just 18 years old when he died that day, and is commemorated alongside his fellow crew-members on the Tower Hill Memorial, London.

Lionel and Eric had 2 sisters Madge and Kitty. Madge lost her husband on 1st. June 1940:

Samuel Snell Lewis, Ordinary Seaman, LT/JX 170661, Royal Naval Patrol Service. Samuel was the son of Thomas Snell Lewis and Elizabeth Martha Lewis, of Tenby, and the husband of Madge Vera Lewis, Of Tenby. He served in the Royal Naval Patrol Service aboard HM Trawler Argyllshire. She had been hired in September 1939 and converted for anti-submarine duties, joining the 11th Anti-Submarine Striking Group, and took part in Norwegian campaign in April and May 1940. She then took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk, but was sunk by a torpedo from a German E-boat off Dunkirk on 1 June 1940. Samuel died aboard the ship that day. He was 27 years old, and is commemorated on the Lowestoft Naval Memorial, Suffolk.

And in 1944 Kitty lost her husband :

Samuel Oliver Alec Palmer, Warrant Officer Class II (C.S.M.), 6007427, Lancashire Fusiliers. Samuel was born at Romford Essex on 24 January 1910. He was probably stationed with the Essex Regiment at Penally when he met and married Kitty Clark at Tenby in 1933, and the couple resided with Kitty's parents at Laston House, in Tenby Harbour. The couple had four children, Margaret, Colin, Roy, and Robin. Samuel was a well-known athlete, and in 1939 he was the British Athletic Association 6 mile record holder. At some time prior to 1943, Samuel was posted to the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, which was in the Far East, attached to 77 Brigade of the famous Chindits. On 5 March 1944 the Chindits flew into Burma, to take part in their second operation against the Japanese. Samuel was killed in action during the assault on the Japanese garrison at Moguang on 18. June 1944. He was 34 years old, and is buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar. Samuel is not commemorated on the Tenby Memorial. Many thanks to Neil Palmer for the details.