Lapland (1942) Baltic Type Carrier - COMNO

[Stefan Hay]

Does anybody have a photo or know of a photo of the SS Empire Guidon? It was torpedoed on 31/10/42 which was less than 6 months old, so I'm not sure if any photos were taken - thanks! Stefan

[Rod MacArthur]

Hi Stefan,

Always a potential problem in replying to a one year old thread, but I will do so anyway. My father, John (Ian) MacArthur, was Chief Officer on Lapland from shortly after if was delivered to The Currie Line in 1942 until the end of the Second World War. He served on that ship on three Arctic Convoys and the D-Day landings. They came in to Omaha beach the day after D-Day and I remember him telling me that they nosed their way through the American bodies in the water. He was with Currie Line from before the War until the 1960s and had previously served on Gibraltar and Atlantic Convoys on other Currie Line ships.

My father died back in 1985, but in 2013 the Government belatedly announced a new medal, the Arctic Star, which could be claimed by those few surviving veterans and families of those who were deceased. I therefore claimed it to add to his other medals, but had to do quite a lot of research, in the National Archives and online, to support that claim.

Rod

[vic mcclymont]

LAPLAND
O.N. 167031
11.1942: Launched by Caledon Shipbuilding & Eng. Co., Ltd., Dundee for Curie Line, Leith.
315.5 x 46.6 x 23.0 feet.
Singe screw. T.3-cyl. (20",31", & 55" - 39") by North East Marine Eng. Co. Ltd., Newcastle.
1959: Sold to Lebanese owners and renamed PAVLOS.
Regards
Vic