Name: Joseph Bernard Bona Rank: Fireman and Trimmer Service: SS Kantara (Liverpool, England) (147298), Merchant Navy Date of Birth: November 16, 1910 Place of Birth: Halifax, Nova Scotia Marital Status: Single Next of Kin: Mary Bona (Mother), 7 Sackville St, Halifax, NS Date of Death: October 21, 1944 Age: 33 Cemetery: Overleigh New Cemetery, Chester, Cheshire, England Grave: Grave 308, Section E Commemorated on Page 97 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on February 28, 29, and July 28 Joseph Bernard Bona was the son of George Bona (1877-1952) and Rufine Marie (Briand) Bona (1884-1963), of Halifax, Nova Scotia. His known siblings were Walter Francis Bona (1917-2000), Mary Catherine Kay Bona (1908- 2010), Theresa Margaret Bona (1910-2011) and Edna Rachel Bona (1915-1998), George Thaddeus Ted Bona (1917-2007), and Fred Bona. Bernard’s father was born in l’Ardoise, Richmond Co., Cape Breton, NS. Bernard’s surname on his birth certificate is recorded as Bonna. The surnames of Bona and Bonin derive from the French surname Bonnain. Bernard was a direct descendant (the 5th great grandson) of Sieur Pierre Bonnain dit La Chaume (1680-1730); sub-delegate of the intendant of Île Royale (Cape Breton). Pierre was the assistant commandant of the harbour of Saint-Esprit, which is located along the coast of Cape Breton, about halfway between L'Ardoise and Louisbourg. He was from Angouleme, in Charente, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. When Bernard began serving at sea is unknown, but by 1941, he was serving aboard the Merchant Navy vessel the SS Kantara, a steel screw cargo steamer. In February, the ship was of the vessels in Convoy SC 20. On February 22, 1941, the Kantara was shelled by the battleship Gneisenau. Alongside the Scharnhorst, its sister ship, the Gneisenau was engaged in a commerce-raiding mission across the Atlantic during that month, targeting Allied shipping lanes as part of their surface raider campaign known as Operation Berlin. The Kantara was sunk in the North Atlantic, position 47°38'N/40°07'W, midway between Newfoundland and the Azores, though closer to Newfoundland. The ship had passed London and the Tyne to cross the Atlantic for the West Indies where it was delivering general cargo to Barbados, Trinidad and Demerara in Guyana. Ships sunk by the Gneisenau include the A.D. Huff (2 crew killed, the rest taken prisoner), the Harlesden (7 crew killed, the rest taken prisoner), and the Trelawny (1 crew killed, the rest taken prisoner). The Lustrous, meanwhile, was sunk by the Scharnhorst, with 37 crew members taken prisoner. The survivors were made prisoners of war and taken to the Marlag und Milag Nord camp, a German prisoner of war (POW) camp complex specifically for captured naval and merchant marine personnel from Allied nations. It was located near the village of Westertimke, about 30 km northeast of Bremen, Germany. Seaman Bernard Bona was held at Marlag und Milag Nord from 1941 for over three years until October of 1944, when he was repatriated due to his ill health and died of tuberculosis in the military hospital in Chester, in Cheshire, England, on October 21, 1944. He is interred at the Overleigh New Cemetery in Chester, Cheshire, England.

Source: findagrave