Original Title: The Sinking of the British Ship Lancastria in June 1940: A Personal Tale. Author: Michael Sheldrick. Date: June 17, 2022.
June 1940 was a month that changed the course of WWII. It was the darkest time for Britain, and also when a tragedy occurred that remains largely unknown to this day. That tragedy changed our family's life forever.
Colin at age 22 (1940). My grandmother told me she decided to join the war effort after hearing her brother Colin went missing while serving in France with the British Expeditionary Force.
Decades later in 2019, I found out Colin's real name was 'John Colin Lee Thomas' and found his name in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records. He was killed in action on June 17, 1940, during the sinking of the HMT Lancastria.
The Lancastria was a 16,243-ton ocean liner requisitioned as a troopship during the war. On June 17, 1940, while evacuating thousands of soldiers from the port of Saint-Nazaire, it was bombed by the Luftwaffe.
The sinking Lancastria and survivors adrift. It sank completely in just 24 minutes. The Luftwaffe showed their cruelty by strafing survivors floating in the water.
Civilian survivors of the sinking. It wasn't until 2015 that the British Parliament officially recognized this tragedy and commemorated the victims.
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