Harold Richard Wildin
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
He was the son of John and Vera Wildin and the brother of Edna May Vera and John Wildin. In 1921, they lived at 6, Brittam Square, New Lenton, Nottingham. By 1939, Vera Wildin, by this time a widow, was a newsagent living at 19, Marchwood Close, Radford, Nottingham. Harold Wildin and Mary Pearson were married at Nottingham in 1941 and their daughter Gillian was born in 1942.
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Panel 87 Column 1
HMS Penelope
HMS Penelope was an Arethusa-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by Harland & Wolff (Belfast, Northern Ireland); her keel was laid down on 30 May 1934. She was launched on 15 October 1935, and commissioned 13 November 1936. She was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat near Naples with great loss of life on 18 February 1944. On wartime service with Force K, she was holed so many times by bomb fragments that she acquired the nickname "HMS Pepperpot".
'HMS Penelope acquired a notable reputation during her spell in the Mediterranean. Between November 1941 and Easter 1942 she destroyed 4 Italian Cruisers and an entire Italian Convoy. She put in to Malta for repairs and was the object of some ferocious bombing by the Germans - some 200 bombers having targetted her. Somehow she slipped out of harbour and made it to Gibraltar on 10th April.' (Memorials and Monuments in Portsmouth)
On 18 February 1944, Penelope, under the command of Captain G. D. Belben, was leaving Naples to return to the Anzio area when she was torpedoed at 40.55°N 13.25°E by the German submarine U-410 under the command of Horst-Arno Fenski. A torpedo struck her in the after engine room and was followed sixteen minutes later by another torpedo that hit in the after boiler room, causing her immediate sinking.
417 of the crew, including the captain, went down with the ship and 206 survived. Among the dead were Stoker 1st Class Leonard Davies from Mapperley, Nottingham, Stoker Class 2 Dennis Phillips from Wiverton, Nottinghamshire, Coder Fred Quatermaine from Sherwood Nottingham, Sick Berth Attendant Harold Wildin from Nottingham, and Telegraphist Horace Wenman from Hucknall. A memorial plaque commemorating those lost is in St Ann's Church, HM Dockyard, Portsmouth. (Wikipedia)
Unknown
Memorial in St Ann's Church, Portsmouth dockyard to those killed in the sinking of HMS Penelope 18/2/1944. The majority of the men who were lost have no other grave but the sea and therefore appear on one of the three Naval Memorials at Portsmouth, Plymouth or Chatham depending on where they signed on. There are however a number of others who are buried ashore, 11 in Naples, 1 in Anzio and 2 in Corsica.
Photo: Courtesy of https://www.memorialsinportsmouth.co.uk/churches/st_anns/penelope.htm