Are any of these still alive?

I found out that my grandmothers brother died when Brant County was torpedoed March 2 1943.

I also found a list of casualties and survivors and i wondered if anyone might still be alive today and also if they knew him? Im not sure where to look so i decided to make this thread and see if anybody could help me... Here is the list of survivors:

2nd Mate
Oddvar Granum​

3rd Mate

Johan Johansen

Boatswain

Hjalmar Kjellevold

Able Seaman

Thorbjørn Olsen

Able Seaman

Tarald Heimstad

Able Seaman

Ingolf Fjelle

Able Seaman/Gunner

Søren Trane

Ordinary Seaman

Henry Watts

(British)​

Ordinary Seaman

Kenneth Ballard

(British)​

2nd Engineer

Lauritz Melkevik

3rd Engineer

Hjalmar Holthe

Assistant

Karl Georgsen

Donkeyman​

Harald Ballovarre​

Stoker

Einar Christensen

Stoker

Gunnar Nilsen

Stoker

Catalino Sosa

(Uruguay)​

Trimmer

Frederick Peters

(British)​

Steward

Trygve Hansen

Cook

Harald Kjeldstrøm

Mess Boy

Leslie Hoven

(British)​

​

Gunner

[B]J. Pencott[/B]

(British)​

Corporal

[COLOR=#333300][B]Jens Eilert Hansen[/B][/COLOR]
[CENTER]Passenger[/CENTER]
​

​

​

 

Not sure if this is of any help but it gives some detail on the ship and it's departure dates etc.D/S Brant County - Norwegian Merchant Fleet 1939-1945. Also, there's a list of the deceased on there and i think the births and deaths of 16 Norwegians at the bottom. Not sure if it's of any help.

 

Well, that is the website i got the info from... But there is no info if they are still alive today.

 

Ah right, sorry didn't realise. I looked at Johan Johanssen and it said that he also sailed on a ship under of the name of M/T Norvik that was also sunk but he survived that. Whilst it's not actual information about their births and deaths i have got a bit more information on Hjalmar Holthe which could be helpful, i.e give you another path to look down.

Hjalmar Holthe the 3rd engineer later sailed on the D/S Norjerv and before the Brant County ship the D/S Vest. Document of the D/S Vest's repairs http://www.warsailors.com/riksarkivet3/vest4.gif. The Norjerv was sunk in the Normandy landings and he taken away and landed in Southampton on July 18. Maybe there is a line of inquiry that you could follow there?

I think the best bet you have is contacting either the owner of that website or contacting the respective nations military bases. Sorry if this isn't much help.

 

I was told to contact the owner of the website by another guy, but the owner says he cant help finding out info about people.

 

Hmm, well i am at and end there. One thing i did find is that by searching with the website i found that Hjalmar Kjellevold and Johan Johansen were on an earlier ship, not much help but info nonetheless, the ship was called Pegasus i think. Might be a different Johan Johnsen though as the name is common.

 

Well, thanks for the help anyways

 

Have you tried the Norwegian national archives? This is the country most sailors come from . You may even try the phone book . Some of the names seem old fashioned and with a bit of luck one or two may be listed there. If you search on line you can check large regions of the country in a few seconds.

 

There are some archives in Kristiansand on an old Gestapo headquarters, my mom lives about an hour away for there, i could call and see if i could have a look. There are alot of people that have the same names as those mentioned above, and i cant see how old they are...

 

I contacted a guy working there, but he wasn't really helpful. I will try to ask him again, but i could use some help from you guys.

 

I am Leslie Hoven's (Mess Boy) Grandaughter. I am sad to inform you that he is currently in Auckland Hospital (New Zealand) and has been given days to live. He is an exceptional man. I love him dearly.

 

I thank you for responding, and it is sad to hear that he only have a few days to live, give my regards to him and your family, I only hope he lives through it after all. The only family that is left after my great uncle is my grandmother, i brought her a picture of him and she was very excited about that. Did your grandfather ever mention anything about the war? Especially being on D/s Brant County?

 

I regret to inform you that Grandad - Leslie Denis Hoven - past away this morning. He was a fighter to the end.

Yes, My Grandad often told me stories of his time in the merchant navy. The Brant County from what I remember was the first ship he started his career on (after lieing about his age) and the first of three ships he was on that were torpedoed. He was on the only life boat that was saved by the British ship called the Stewart Prince. I think it was 11 March 1943 (from Mums records) that the Brant County was torpedoed.

Gen.

 

I am sorry truly sorry for you and your familiy's loss, give my condolences to your family. And yes, the Brant County was torpedoed on 11 march 1943. did your grandfather write down any of his experiences during his time on D/s Brant County? I am trying to figure out exactly what happened, my grandmother is very interested in finding out about her brother, since the last time she saw him was just before the war.

 

This is from the u-boat website [http://uboat.net]

Brant County had a displacement of 5,001 tons.
Sunk: 11 Mar 1943 by U-86 (Capt Walter Schug)
Was in convoy HX-228 when sunk

A picture is here:
Brant County (Norwegian Steam merchant) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net

Here's the details of the convoy battle:
Convoy HX-228 - Convoy Battles - German U-boat Operations - uboat.net

 

All I know is the Brant County was one of 100 or so big and small boats in convoy heading back to England (I think from Newfoundland). They ran into a wolf pack and after several hours a number of merchant ships were torpedoed and lost, Brant county being one of them. They had 10min to get to the life boat before the TNT cargo blew the ship up. If I come across documents etc over the coming weeks I will let you know but this is all I know about Brant County. What was the name of your Grandmothers brother?

Gen.

 

I am sorry for the late reply, have you found any documents? I am working on getting my grandmothers brother's medals, which the family did not receive, and i got in touch with an archive and got a copy of the report for the sinking of D/s Brant County, if you would like a copy i would be happy to translate it.

My grandmothers brother was an able seaman and his name was Harald Skålnes, he is listed as M.I.A(Missing In Action).

Here is a bit about how the ship sunk:

It was hit at 02:10 AM, it carried a lot of TNT, the TNT exploded 6-7 minutes after the torpedo had hit, and the lifeboat was about 200 meters away by then. A lot of the survivors were fished out of the water, they had heard screams coming from the ship and saw people on deck, but after the TNT exploded, it got all quiet. They were later picked up by the ship "Stuart Prince.

 

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but a new book has recently been published about foreign seafarers who died on service on Norwegian ships during the war. The book has some information about those who lost their lives, like who they were, where they came from and when they died. It includes some extra information about DS Brant County.

More information about the book can be found in my thread: http://www.ww2f.com/topic/56710-new-book-foreign-seafarers-remembered/, or you can PM me.

I am sorry this isn't exactly what you were looking for, but I thought it might be useful if you wanted to know more about DS Brant County.

I am currently working on Arkivet in Kristiansand, as part of my studies. They might have more information that can be useful to you now. If you want information about the Norwegian Fleet you can try this mail: krigsseilerregisteret@stiftelsen-arkivet.no, or you can PM me.