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UPDATED – Visit to Fort Blockhouse of Daughter of CO of HMS URGE
UPDATED – The wreck of HMS URGE has been found off Malta read more.
Recently Mrs Bridget Dickinson daughter of Lieutenant Commander E P “Tommo” Tomkinson DSO**, and her son, Mr Francis Dickinson, visited Fort Blockhouse to view the historical artefacts connected with her late father, Commanding Officer of HMS URGE which was reported missing with all hands on 6thMay 1942. We are grateful to Committee Member Mike Bates and Charlie Hayward, an Alliance and Fort Blockhouse Guide, for hosting the visit. To read more click here.
We also hope to publish a short history of HMS URGE written by Francis in due course.
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2 comments on “UPDATED – Visit to Fort Blockhouse of Daughter of CO of HMS URGE”
The URGE was adopted by Bridgend and district during the war. The Welsh branch hosted a commemoration service and both the Daughter and Grandson of the skipper of the URGE were there, after the secretary traced them. At the commemoration service were also the First Minister of the Welsh government, along with the Mayor and his lady of Bridgend also the Bridgend male voice choir. Our then President Commodore Toby Elliot was also there.
It is little known that Bernard Gray a War correspondent also went down with her. A young Lt B N T LLOYD was landed from URGE in 1941, but never came back, and was presumed dead. He was a local man, and his uncle, who was also traced, came from North Wales for the ceremony. The ceremony was conducted by The Reverend Len Grabham.
Roy James
After the loss of PANDORA, alongside in Malta, my father, Lieutenant R L (Robbie) Alexander, was due to take passage in URGE, but he and three other crew members took passage to Alexandria in another boat. Sadly the remaining survivors from PANDORA were lost in OLYMPUS, when she was also mined and lost off Malta. Tommo was one of my father’s heroes.