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This data is related to World War 2
Able Seaman

Eric Swales

Service number P/JX 421479
Military unit HMS Magic Royal Navy
Address Unknown
Date of birth 27 Jun 1922
Date of death 06 Jul 1944 (22 years old)
Place of birth Langwith, Derbyshire
Employment, education or hobbies

Attended Brunts School
Family history

Son of Richard and Florence Swales of 271 Portland Road, Langwith.
Siblings: Richard (1910),Florence Ivy (1911), Ivy (1914), Harry (1918).
Harry served with the Royal Artillery and on the 1939 England & Wales Register he is shown as being under training as a gunner for the Royal Artillery. He survived the war and died in 2001.

Military history

HMS Magic: A mine sweeper built in the U.S.A for the Royal Navy in 1943.
On the 6th July she was deployed off the coast of France when she wad hit by a Neger, a small craft piloted by a single man that carried a single torpedo. Negers were nicknames "The Human Torpedo" as the torpedo frequently failed to detach from the craft causing both the torpedo and craft to hit the target leading to the death of the man piloting the craft.
The Magic lies just off the port of Ouistreham, France (close to the far eastern end of Sword Beach)

Extra information

Brunts School Roll of Honour
Swales E. AB RNVR Missing Reported Killed.

Photographs

No photos

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