LCpl John Hayward

 

William John Hayward (known as John) was born in Corsham, Wiltshire in 1909 and was the son of John, a worker in a stone quarry, and Rhoda Hayward. In September 1939 he was a chauffeur and living at Craven Cottage, Speen. He enlisted in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on 20 December 1939 at Reading.

 

On 21 June 1942 John Hayward, on leave from his unit then at Cambuslang married Renee Cook, the elder daughter of WG Cook who kept the Club and Post Office in Englefield. They set up home in North Street, and his name appears as a later addition to the register of respirator issues, though why is unclear because he would presumably have already had a service respirator by then.

 

John was transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers on its formation on 1 October 1942 and on 9 December 1942 he embarked on HMT Cameronia at Glasgow. The following day she sailed with about 4500 troops on board, but only about four miles down the Clyde where she dropped anchor to wait for the remainder of the convoy. At 0400 on 12 December the convoy moved off into the mid-Atlantic where the weather was very rough. The convoy passed through the Strait of Gibraltar on the 20th and soon came under attack from enemy aircraft, one ship being hit by a torpedo.

 

On the 21st Cameronia called at Algiers but soon left again only to come under further attack from 2230 until 0130 on the 22nd. Action Stations was sounded again at 0400 and Cameronia was hit by an aerial torpedo which blew a 288 square foot hole in her side, though the ship managed to reach the port of Bougie. Seventeen men were killed in the attack, including John Hayward.

 

John Hayward is buried in La Réuinion cemetery, Algeria and his name appears on the memorial wall in the garden of remembrance in Corsham. The wall, commemorating those from Corsham killed in World War 2 was unveiled on 6 November 1947 by Lt Philip Mountbatten in his first public engagement shortly before his marriage to Princess Elizabeth.

 

John Hayward kept a record of the voyage on blank pages in the back of a 1943 diary.