Roy Jacob Bennett

A Boy 1st Class with H.M.S. Hermes, Roy died on 9th of April 1942 aged 17. 

Roy was born at Lowestoft on 14 August 1924, a son of Frederick James and Esther Maria Bennett. In 1939 Roy’s family lived at 9 Marlborough Road and Roy was an errand boy at a grocery. 

On 9 April 1942 Roy’s ship, the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Hermes, left Trincomalee and sailed down the coast of Ceylon in anticipation of a Japanese air raid. The ship was spotted and ordered to return to Trincomalee and was attacked by dozens of Japanese aircraft which dropped at least forty 250 lb bombs which sank the ship with the loss of 307 men, including Roy. 

Roy’s brother, Ivan, served with H.M.S. Arethusa, and died in 1942.