Photo: James Pasby

In Tynemouth (Preston) Cemetery is a family headstone which reads:

In
Loving Memory Of
Our dear Sons
Alan Gordon
Died 28th Jan 1922
Aged 3½ Years
Roy Gordon
Killed In Action At Sea
14th Sept 1942
Aged 20 Years
Also Their dear Mother
Mary Gordon
Died 6th July 1975
Aged 78 Years

“In the evening of September 11th 1942 in the Indian Ocean, German armed merchant cruiser Michel stops British MV Empire Dawn (in ballast to Trinidad from Durban, South Africa) with a barrage of shellfire that continues despite signals that the crew is abandoning ship (22 killed, 22 survivors taken prisoner on Michel)”. WW2 website below.

Roy Gordon is remembered at Newcastle on NUT136 and on our List of Ships’ crews

World War Two Day by Day website
The CWGC entry for Able Seaman Gordon