WW2 Veteran Junior Officer George A Forbes, British Merchant Navy

[Douglas Cerretti]

I hope the readers of this forum have enjoyed learning about WW2 Veteran George Forbes. I have contacted the British Consulate in Seattle to see if the British government would like to honor this WW2 Veteran on the occasion of his 100th birthday. The consulate said George could apply for a 100th birthday greeting from the King (this is available to any current and former British citizen) but nothing else. Is this expected of the British Government not to honor a WW2 veteran? Also, I would think a British historian would be interested in talking with George as there seems to be no record of his ship the Dutch merchant ship Pieter du Hooch sailed on the Arctic Convoy PQ-17. Does anyone in this forum know a historian who may be interested?

[j.sabourn]

As regards the talk of medals ,has anyone noticed or is it just me…That the majority of wearers are from the allied forces, one does not see German ex forces striding around displaying their Iron Crosses first ,second and third grade or similar with the Japanese or Italians.They too has similar awards and earned them the hard way, or is theirs a Gentleman’s agreement that the losing side does not show off its heroes of years gone by ??? Cheers JS….

[happy daze john in oz]

Funny thing you should mention that but at last years Anzac day march a comment was made on that subject.
Reporter said he thought that only local allied country members would march

[j.sabourn]

Believe even Hitler had an Iron Cross 3rd Class from his time as a messenger corporal to boot , in the trench warfare of 1914 1918. There must have been thousands from the second WW. As said in a much previous post met a German in Oxelosund in the christmas of 1965 and he was all to eager to show me his fathers medals who was an SS officer . Among the artefacts was his ceremonial dagger. Cheers JS

[Douglas Cerretti]

As you know Junior Officer George A Forbes sailed on the Dutch merchant ship Pieter de Hooch on the Arctic Convoy PQ-17. They were originally assigned to PQ-16 but records do not reflect this. Does someone in this forum have access to the sailing history of Pieter de Hooch during WW2? Also where are the historians in this forum. I would think they would like to interview George.
https://www.shorelineareanews.com/20...er-george.html

[Doc Vernon]

PQ16 Does show that ship in the Convoy Database! NB The name is apparently Hoogh not Hooch ???
Cheers



Convoy PQ 14 - Arctic Convoys, warsailors.com

[j.sabourn]

Maybe was his nickname Vernon which through constant use became the norm. The same as Cappy whose real name was Capps.Their are many in this world who go through life with alias’s mostly for different reasons, many on the internet. Must be a helluva job for the stonemason on deciding on what name to carve on the headstone. Also going back not too many years the issue of birth certificates had names spelt wrong . Members of my family have different spellings of theirs a 150 years ago.people weren’t too educated then as of now. JS
PS Even Hitler had another name he was born with, however have forgotten how to spell it. JS..

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Douglas.
All British citizens receive a telegram of congratulations from whomever is the Head Honcho at t Buckingham Palace at the time on reaching 100, but I suppose someone has to let them know,
Des

[Douglas Cerretti]

Thank you for the correct spelling. As George said the Pieter de Hoogh was originally assigned to PQ-16 but they did not have enough seaman at the rendezvous in Iceland so PQ-16 sailed without them. When enough sailors came on board they sailed with PQ-17. Clearly this was not recorded in the logs of PQ-17. The logs of Pieter de Hoogh would show this if they exist. Any British historians out there?

[Doc Vernon]

Hoi Douglas
Well after i had emailed the Archives in the Netherlands asking question about the Ship, i got a reply with a Link, and although it does give info on the Ship etc. i am afraid that i cannot make out what it all says. One would need an Interpreter i guess.
But if you click on the Link and then when page opens click on your Ctrl plus the letter F , This will open a box to search, type in the name of the Ship, this will give number of results. It will Highlight the Results. From there you can see what i have seen
Hope this may help.
Looks like a lot of info there with some Ship movements etc.
You can try the other Links as well that they give. I actually had to open an account, but again although got info, cannot make out what its all about in Dutch. Its close to Afrikaans but not quite enough for me to translate!
Cheers

Archieven.nl - 159 London Collection Merchant Navy (LOCK) (NIMH / Netherlands Institute for Military History)

Your inquiry NA:01411885

Yahoo/Inbox

• 
  Inlichtingen Nationaal Archief
  From:info@nationaalarchief.nl
  
  To:Doc Vernon
  
  
  
  
  Wed, 4 Dec at 2:30 am
  
  
  
  
  Dear Vernon Mac Donald,
  
  Thank you for your inquiry.
  
  In your information request you asked for several recommendations to commence you research on the merchant ship 'Pieter de Hoogh'. Here are some recommendations where you can find information about this ship:
  
  
  
  • Archief Oorlogsonderscheidingen voor het Koopvaardij-en Luchtvaartpersoneel, 1940-1975: 2.16.32 Inventaris van het archief van Oorlogsonderscheidingen voor het Koopvaardij- en Luchtvaartpersoneel, 1940-1975 | Nationaal Archief
  • Archief van de Commissie voor Aangehouden Lading (COVAL) en de Netherland Shipping and Trading Committee (NSTC): 2.06.084 Inventaris van de archieven van de Commissie voor Aangehouden Lading (COVAL) en de Netherland Shipping and Trading Committee (NSTC), 1939-1957 (1966) | Nationaal Archief
  • The Dutch Institute for Military History also preserve a collection in which the Pieter Hoogh is mentioned: https://www.archieven.nl/nl/zoeken?m...ij&miview=inv2
  
  I hope you can continue your research with these suggestions.
  
  Kind regards,
  
  Diego Bosman 
  Medewerker Dienstverlening 
  .................................................. ......................
  Nationaal Archief
  Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 20 | Den Haag
  Postbus 90520 | 2509 LM | Den Haag
  .................................................. ........