Sub Lieutenant 

John Frederick 

GOODWIN

RNVR

Died On:
Aged:
11 August 1943

24

John Goodwin was born in London on 29 May 1919, the son of John Henry Goodwin (a master mariner) and Margaret Maria Goodwin of Ealing, London. He was the elder brother of Margaret Thelma Goodwin. On 24 June 1935 John (aged 16) arrived in Liverpool from Halifax, Nova Scotia giving a destination address in Ebbw Vale, Glamorgan. They had previously been resident in  Seattle, Washington State in the United States where he had attended the Lincoln High School. The family returned to the United States via Canada having embarked in SS NOVA SCOTIA at Liverpool bound for St John’s Newfoundland on 5 September 1935. He later graduated from Washington State University.

He joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and was appointed Temporary Acting Sub Lieutenant RNVR on 12 June 1941. He was then appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS MEDWAY at Alexandria on 7 August 1941. The October 1942 Navy List reports him serving at  the Submarine Base HMS TALBOT in Malta. He was appointed to ‘HMS PARTHIAN as Fourth Hand’ on 14 June 1943 when PARTHIAN was at Beirut in the Lebanon.  The submarine then carried out her 20th War Patrol from 20 June to 7 July 1943 ending at Malta. A 21st War Patrol started on 20 July with orders to patrol west of Greece and in the western Adriatic and to return to Beirut on 11 August 1943. The submarine failed to arrive and is presumed to have been lost with all hands – probably mined – on or about 7 August 1943.

John Goodwin of Brentwood, Essex listed his widowed mother as his Next of Kin.  He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial in Panel 81 Column 1.

VISITOR COMMENTS

One Response

  1. John Francis Goodwin is my uncle. Although he was born in London, he grew up on the US West Coast. He joined the RN in 1940 having graduated from Washington State University after attending Lincoln High School in Seattle.

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