My name is Laura Crane. My cousin and I were wondering if by any chance you knew our Great Grandfather, William Campbell Manners. He died in WW2 on The HMAS Canberra. We are trying to find information on him and his wife Grace Manners (nee Stanton). We would really appreciate it if you have any information to share.

Thank you,
Laura

Nice to hear from you.

As a young seaman officer in Canberra, and the fact that your great grand father was a Leading Stoker, I would have had little contact with people in the engineering department, and did not personally know your great grand father. Also, as a stoker, William's action station may well have been in a boiler room, during our action, both boiler rooms were hit and no one survived from them.

Veteran's Affairs recently put up on the internet one million names of all who served in WW2. The site is www.ww2roll.gov.au I have gone to this site and taken the liberty of printing out your great grand father's Certificate of Service in WW2. I will E-Mail it separately as an attachment, when printing it out, you should first set your printer to Landscape, as this Certificate is too wide across an A4 sheet of paper. As I have a list of those officers and sailors killed in Canberra, I will also E-Mail the page on which William is listed.

Sorry, I cannot be of more help. Best regards and good wishes for 2003.

Sincerely,
Mackenzie Gregory