Name: Russell Samuel Davis Service Number: V/26270 Rank: Ordinary Seaman Service: HM Trawler Bedfordshire, Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve Date of Birth: June 7, 1923 Place of Birth: Sydney, Cape Breton Co., Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: August 7, 1941 Place of Enlistment: Halifax, Nova Scotia Address at Enlistment: Sydney, Cape Breton Co., Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 18 Height: 5 feet, 2 ¾ inches Complexion: Fair Eye Colour: Brown Hair Colour: Brown Occupation: Clerk Marital Status: Single Religion: United Church Next of Kin: Caroline Davis (Mother), Sydney, Cape Breton, NS Date of Death: May 11, 1942 Age: 18 Cemetery: Halifax Memorial, Nova Scotia Reference: Panel 9 Commemorated on Page 68 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on February 15 Russell was the son of Samuel C. Davis (b. 1889) and Caroline Davis (1888-1966), of Sydney, Nova Scotia, and the brother of Harold, Roy Charles, Doris, Kathleen Edna, Myrtle, and Pearl Davis. Prior to his enlistment in August 1941 at the RCN Barracks, Russell worked as a wholesale clerk for John R. MacDonald in Sydney. His naval service began with training at the HMC Signal School at HMCS Protector in Cape Breton from August 12 to October 22, 1941, followed by further instruction at the HMC Signal School in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, through January 6, 1942. After a posting to HMCS Stadacona in Halifax, he joined the Royal Navy’s HMT Bedfordshire on March 21, 1942. Originally a commercial fishing trawler built in 1935 in Middlesbrough, England, the Bedfordshire was requisitioned by the Royal Navy at the start of WWII. In early 1942, during the height of Operation Drumbeat (the German U-boat offensive against the U.S. East Coast), the United States was severely lacking in anti-submarine vessels. Britain loaned 24 armed trawlers from the Royal Naval Patrol Service (often nicknamed "Harry Tate's Navy") to help. The Bedfordshire was one of them, staffed by a British and Canadian crew and based out of Morehead City, North Carolina. On the night of May 11, 1942, the HMT Bedfordshire was patrolling the waters near Ocracoke Island when it was spotted by the German submarine U-558, commanded by Gunther Krech. After two initial torpedoes missed their mark, a third struck the trawler amidships at approximately 5:40 AM on May 12. The resulting explosion was so violent that the ship disintegrated and sank almost instantly, leaving no time for a distress signal to be sent. All 37 crew members on board were killed in the attack. The only reason anyone associated with the ship survived the war was due to a remarkable twist of fate involving a stoker named Sam Nutt. While the vessel was docked in Morehead City, Nutt had been granted shore leave and was subsequently arrested by local police following a minor altercation at a bar. He spent the night in a cell and arrived at the docks the following morning only to find that the Bedfordshire had already sailed without him, unintentionally making him the sole survivor of the ship’s company. For several days, the Navy was unaware that the ship had even been lost. The first evidence of the tragedy appeared when the bodies of Sub-Lieutenant Thomas Cunningham and Ordinary Telegraphist Stanley Craig washed ashore on Ocracoke Island. Moved by the sacrifice of these young men so far from their homes, local residents provided a small plot of land for their burial. This site became the Ocracoke British Cemetery, which is officially recognized as British soil and remains one of the smallest Commonwealth War Graves sites in the world, where a Union Jack flies permanently in their honor. The wreck of the Bedfordshire remained hidden until 1980, when it was discovered lying in approximately 100 feet of water. Today, the site is a protected War Grave, serving as a final resting place for those lost. In 2016, the British government officially declared it a War Memorial, and it continues to be a site of deep reverence for historians and divers alike. Lost at sea, with no known grave, Russell Davis is remembered on the Halifax Memorial at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, NS.

Sources: Service File - Russell Samuel Davis