D/JX 154070 Able Seaman Terence Kilgallon,

Royal Navy.

Killed in action on the 26 November 1940, whilst crewing the captured French Cargo Ship "Medoc".

The Medoc was a French cargo ship and seized by the British in Aboukir when France finally fell to Germany in the early years of WW2. The decision was taken by Churchill to prevent the French shipping assets and Navy falling into the hands of the Nazis.

The Medoc was 273 feet long, 34 feet wide with a displacement of 1166 tons and loaded with ammunition when she approached the area of the Eddystone on the afternoon of 26 November 1940. The Medoc was attacked with machine gun fire by a German aircraft which she survived, only for the aircraft to return later in the afternoon to torpedo her. The Medoc sank so quickly that all thirty nine of her crew died with her. Until 1984 she was known only as the Halfway wreck until the recovered binnacle helped identify her as the Medoc.

Terence Kilgallon was aged 19, the son of Mr. and Mrs. M. Kilgallon of 220, Howard Street, Burnley, Lancashire.

He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.