The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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229066 Ld/Tel. Donald Sabin Royal Navy HMS Vetch (d.4th February 1944) Leading Telegraphist Donald Sabin served on HMS Eagle from 1939 to 1941. Then we lose track of which ships he was on until he joined HMS Vetch in Alexandria in late 1943. He died of smallpox on 4th February 1944 and is buried in Gibraltar (North Front) Cemetery, Plot 1, Row D, Joint Grave 7. Can anyone fill in the gaps in his record of service please? Angela Taylor Add to this record.  Additional Information: My dad, Arthur Roberts was a Telegraphist on HMS Vetch when Donald died. They shared the same cabin and swapped bunks during watch. My dad was there on the day that Donald died. A doctor came onboard from Gibraltar and had to do a tracheotomy to help with his breathing. He may have have contracted smallpox in Alexandria as they had sailed to Gibraltar from there. My dad thought that Donald's vaccinations were not up to date. Many years later my Dad went to Gibraltar to visit Donald's grave. He couldn't find it at first because it had moved/been relocated? Eventually he did find the grave, and on his way back sat on a bench to contemplate things. Another person on the bench asked him if he found who he was looking for. The other guy turned out to be a shop owner who Donald had worked for before the war and had come to the cemetery that same day to look for Donald's grave. He didn't know that Donald had died from smallpox, so my Dad was able to tell him Donald's story. My Dad could not believe that incredible meeting... RIP Donald Sabin & Arthur Roberts Martin Roberts Reply Related Content: HMS Vetch HMS Eagle Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.