The Royal Signals casualties whose surnames begin with ‘P’ have now been included on the War Dead page on this website (completed letters are hyperlinked; the documents open as pdfs). They amount to 309 all ranks who died on operations in the inter-war years, in the Second World War and in the campaigns of the post-Second World War period.

S.S. Ceramic served as a troopship during both World Wars. She was sunk by U-515 in the Atlantic Ocean on the night of 6/7 December 1942. The rough seas and generally poor weather prevent rescue and there was only one survivor, 2148743 Sapper Eric Alfred Munday, who was taken aboard U-515. Six Royal Signals soldiers of the St. Helena Signal Section were lost; they are commemorated on the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial.

The casualties include:

• Eighty-two men who were killed in action or died of wounds or were killed as a result of terrorist action, including:

Captain R. G. Barlow, Lieutenant N. S. Peers and Serjeant F. R. Paton of 45^th Indian infantry Brigade Signal Section who were killed in action in Malaya on 19 January 1942 at Bakri in the Battle of Muar when the brigade headquarters was hit during an air attack. In addition, most of the headquarters’ staff were killed as were 17 Indian other ranks of the signal section. There were only two survivors of the attack—the brigade commander, Brigadier H. C. Duncan, and the acting brigade major. Brigadier Duncan was killed in action the next day.

Signalman J. Potter of 8^th Army Group Royal Artillery Signal Section was killed in action on 15 July 1944 in Operation Greenline in the Battle of Normandy when the regimental signal office was hit by artillery fire. Seven other men of the section were killed: Corporal L. S. Beard, Lance Corporals B. W. Herlihy and B. E. Toothill, Signalmen D. W. Apps and D. Milligen and Drivers C. Green and A. McLachlan.

Lance Serjeant G. Powell, Lance Corporal F. Cully and Signalman R. B. E. Hoey of 3^rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade Signal Section were killed in action on 27 May 1940 while manning a Bren gun position in the defence of Hazebrouck during the Battle of France.

Signalman A. L. Price of No. 17 Line of Communication Signals (Cheshire Yeomanry) was wounded in a V1 rocket attack on Antwerp on 1 February 1945. He died of wounds on 3 February 1945. Sixteen soldiers from the unit were killed or died of wounds, including two whose remains were never found.

• In addition, eight men were killed in action at sea—two during the evacuation from Greece in April 1941, and one in the evacuation from Singapore in February 1942; one when the hospital ship Ramb IV was attacked approaching Alexandria, and four on troopships. The latter were:

Company Quartermaster Serjeant R. D. Proud, part of a six-strong signal section destined for St. Helena, who was lost at sea on the night of 6/7 December 1942 when the troopship S.S. Ceramic was sunk by U-515 in the Atlantic Ocean en route to Australia via St. Helena and South Africa. All but one of the 655 passengers and crew were lost.

Driver G. Parkin, Driver W. H. Pleavin and Signalman W. A. H. Pratt, all from 1^st Air Formation Signals, were lost at sea on 7 January 1943 when the troopship S.S. Benalbanach was sunk in the Mediterranean by torpedoes launched by a German aircraft while en route to Algiers from the United Kingdom. Fourteen Royal Signals all ranks from 1^st Air Formation Signals were lost.

• Sixty-three men died as prisoners of war in the Second World War—55 as prisoners of the Japanese and seven as prisoners of the western Axis powers. Of the prisoners of the Japanese, the majority died while working as labour on the Thai-Burma Railway, but 10 prisoners of war were killed in action at sea when ships they were aboard were sunk by Allied submarines and aircraft (over 10,000 Allied prisoners of war were lost at sea in the Far East).

Of the prisoners held by the western Axis powers, Serjeant R. Paterson was killed in action at sea when the Italian cargo ship S.S. Scillin was sunk en route from Tripoli to Sicily, and Serjeant E. A. Parker and Driver H. Poskitt were killed in action when the trains in which they were being transported were bombed by Allied aircraft.

Amongst those who died as prisoners of the Japanese was Signalman W. J. Pinnick of Singapore Fortress Signals who was assigned as a switchboard operator at Alexandra Hospital, Singapore during the Battle of Singapore. He was amongst those taken from the hospital on 14 February 1942 and who died that night or who were murdered the next day. Also killed in this incident was Signalman F. A. Chantler.

• Three men died in air crashes, including:

Captain G. J. Parish, who was serving in West Africa Command when he died on 8 June 1946. Douglas Dakota DC-3, serial KG747, of the Accra Station Flight, Royal Air Force crashed in bad weather near Oni, Nigeria, 60 miles east of Lagos, en route from Kono to Lagos. All six crew members, 12 military passengers (including Captain Parish and Major W. P. G. Morley, Royal Signals) and four civilian passengers were killed, as was a civilian at the crash site.

Lance Corporal C. H. Price was captured during the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941 while serving with the Hong Kong Signal Company. He survived the initial deprivations in Hong Kong and then survived when S.S. Lisbon Maru was sunk by U.S.S. Grouper in October 1942 in the East China Sea en route from Hong Kong to Japan. He then survived a period as a prisoner in Wusong in China before his final incarceration for the remainder of the war as a labourer at Osaka in Japan. In September 1945 he was repatriated firstly to Okinawa. On the morning of 10 September 1945, a fleet of aircraft carrying Allied prisoners of war departed Yontan Field, Okinawa destined for Nielson Field, Luzon. The flights coincided with the arrival in the region of Typhoon Ursula, which tracked north-west out of the Philippine Sea towards Formosa (Taiwan), and the aircraft were diverted onto a route down the western side of the island. Unfortunately, the harsh weather conditions claimed three aircraft. One was a United States Army Air Forces B-24J Liberator, Serial 44-40491, nicknamed Ginny, of 98^th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy); no trace of it was ever found. In addition to the five crew members, 20 former prisoners of war perished including Lance Corporal Price and Signalman D. M. Harrington. (See the suicide of Signalman C. R. S. Paris below.)

• Sixty-eight men died of disease or natural causes, many from diseases that today are readily treatable. They include Serjeant W. Ponsford, a released prisoner of war (formerly 11^th Indian Divisional Signals) who had been captured during the Malayan Campaign/Battle of Singapore and who had been held throughout the war at Changi camp, Singapore until the camp was liberated on 5 September 1945. Evacuated sick to No. 114 (British) General Hospital at Jalahalli, Bangalore (Bengaluru), he died of disease/natural causes on 30 September 1945 as a result of the deprivations suffered as a prisoner of war.
• Thirty-five men died in road traffic accidents, seven died in ‘battle accidents’ (mostly road traffic accidents) and 10 men died in various other accidents,
• One man was murdered by unknown assailants while serving in Tanganyika Territory (Tanzania),
• Nine men took their own lives. Most tragically, they include Signalman C. R. S. Paris, a returned prisoner of war, who had been captured during the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941 while serving with the Hong Kong Signal Company. Like Lance Corporal C. H. Price above, he survived the sinking of S.S. Lisbon Maru, a period as a prisoner in Wusong in China and his final incarceration for the remainder of the war as a labourer at Osaka in Japan. Having been repatriated from Japan in September 1945, he took his own life two months later on 28 November.
• Four men drowned while swimming when off duty,
• Six men died as a result of the negligent discharge of a weapon,
• Twelve men died of unknown causes. These were mostly men who died after the war had ended but in the period of post-war commemoration, and most probably died of disease or natural causes but they include Lance Corporal E. Playle of 17^th Indian Divisional Signals who succumbed to disease on 15 May 1942 in the withdrawal from Burma to India during the Burma Campaign.