HARRIS Ronald Derrick

A letter from the Reverend W.A. Trippass, St Nicholas, Droitwich dated 23rd May 1950 can be found within war records held at Worcestershire Archives requesting that Ronald Derrick Harris be added to the county roll of honour.

HMS Galatea was a Light Cruiser.  She took part in the Norwegian campaign and the Dunkirk evacuations in May and June 1940 and was also involved in the rounding up of the Bismarck.

On 14th December 1941 the ship was part of a squadron returning to Alexandria, Egypt after an unsuccessful hunt for an enemy convoy.  The ships came under fire from German dive bombers in an attack which lasted several hours.  Just before midnight, when HMS Galatea was 35 miles west of Alexandria, she was hit by several torpedoes fired from U-557.  The ship turned over and sank in three minutes with the loss of 23 officers, including her Captain, and 447 ratings.  Around 144 survivors were rescued by the destroyers HMS Griffin and HMS Hotspur.  The following day U-557 was accidentally rammed and sunk by the Italian torpedo boat Orione, resulting in the loss of the entire crew.

The following information has been researched by Peter Kennedy:
Ronald Harris lived at 22 North Street, Droitwich and he was educated at St Peter’s School. He was a former member of St Nicholas Church choir. He was employed by Messrs E.E. Sanders, Droitwich and later at the bakery department of the Co-Op in Droitwich. He was a keen swimmer. Ronald joined the navy in October 1939 and he was the youngest to die out of those from Droitwich that went to join the forces.

Ronald Harris has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Plymouth Naval Memorial.