On Tower Hill Memorial is the name of Galley Boy Walter Kane, serving on S.S. Empire Airman (Newcastle upon Tyne) with the Merchant Navy who died 21/09/1940.

The son of George Hutton Kane and Mary Kane, of South Shields, Co. Durham.

SMS Teodo was a 6,561 ton collier built in 1915 for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. She was ceded to Italy in 1921 as a war reparation. She was renamed Barbana in 1924 and Barbana G in 1926. In 1940, she was seized by the United Kingdom and renamed Empire Airman ship nu 165788. On the 21st September 1940, Empire Airman was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat U-100 commanded by Kapitnleutnant Joachim Schepke.

Convoy HX 72 sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia on the 9th September 1940. Empire Airman was carrying a cargo of iron ore, she was bound for Cardiff. At 00:22 on the 22nd September, Empire Airman was hit by a torpedo fired by U-100. The ship was taken in tow, but sank on the 23rd September at 5511′N 1507′W. Thirty three of the thirty seven crew were killed in the attack. Four survivors were rescued by HMS La Malouine. Those lost on Empire Airman are commemorated at the Tower Hill Memorial, London.

His father George Hutton Kane and brother Charles Hutton Kane also died in WW2.

Walter Kane is remembered at Westoe  in W101.08 page 45 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.