Norman Burnell Atwood

Remembering WWII Nova Scotia Casualties

Norman Burnell Atwood Fireman SS Liverpool Packet (Liverpool, Nova Scotia) Canadian Merchant Navy Date of Death: May 30, 1942 Age at Death: 35 Memorial: Halifax Memorial Panel 20 Norman Burnell Atwood was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Winford C. Atwood, of Barrington, Nova Scotia. On the night of May 30, 1942, the unescorted SS Liverpool Packet, under the command of Captain Norman Emmons Smith was 15 miles west of Seal Island off the coast of Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. The ship was on a return trip from New York to Halifax carrying military supplies for an American military base in Newfoundland. The German U-boat [U-432] spotted the ship shortly before 9:00 pm on May 30 and fired a torpedo sinking the ship in three minutes. Nineteen members of the crew survived and managed to get into lifeboats. Two crew died, Norman Burnell Atwood and Burns Williams. Nineteen survivors were eventually rescued, the German Captain, Heinz-Otto Shaultz, allowing the men to make their way toward the Nova Scotia shore. After twenty hours in the lifeboats they encountered a lobster fisherman and his sons who took the men to Seal Island. Twelve of the nineteen survivors were from the south shore area of Nova Scotia. Commemorated on Page 88 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on February 24 and July 24 Sources and Information: Veterans Affairs Canada uboat.net Operation Picture Me

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