Regiment: Colonial Service.
Died: 11 July 1943 aged 43 in Atlantic. Killed at sea on SS California.
Cemetery: St. George's Chapel In Westminster Abbey
Son of Robert and Agatha Mary Sykes, 3 Gloucester Row, Clifton, Bristol.
Sixth. School Prefect.
Head of House. Editor of 'The Malvernian'.
Gonville and Caius, Cambridge. B.A. 1921.
Diploma in Forestry 1922.
Colonial Forest Service, Nigeria, 1922.
Husband of Joye Sykes, of Hopedale, Langford, Bristol.
Civilian War Dead.
'Whilst on leave in 1940 was an official fire-fighter in the Battle of London and was killed by a direct hit on a convoy on his way back to Africa.' (Malvernian, Dec 1943)
On 11 July 1943 when about 300 miles west of Vigo, Spain, the convoy that SS California was part of was attacked by three Focke-Wulf Fw 200 aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 40 from Merignac near Bordeaux which left Duchess of York and California in flames. The attack cost the lives of 46 servicemen and crew, and both ships were abandoned. It was feared the flames from the ships would attract U-boats, so in the early hours of 12 July they were sunk by Royal Navy torpedoes in position 41°15'N 5°24'.
Wikipedia