John Douglas Seggar
Rank: Leading Seaman
Service Number: C/JX251844
Date of Birth: 8 June 1925
Regiment: HMS Boadicea, Royal Artillery
Date of Death: 13 June 1944
Age at death: Recorded as 21, but he has only just turned 18 when he died
Cemetery / Memorial: Chatham Naval Memorial
Country: Lost at sea
Grave / Reference: 75/1,
Relatives: Son of Wallace and Hetty May Seggar
Address: , 6 Council Cottages (possibly George Street), Hadleigh, Suffolk.
John Douglas Seggar was born in Hadleigh in 1925. He was the eldest of three sons Wallace and Hetty May Seggar. At the time of the 1939 National Register (a mini census) they were living together at 6 Council Cottages, Hadleigh. This could have been the Alms House on George Street. At that time, John was still single and working as a Baker’s Roundsman.
Leading Seaman, John Douglas Seggar
We are not exactly sure when or how John found himself surviving with the Royal Navy. But it does look like he may have lied about his age to get into the navy. His records state he was 21 at the time of his death, but he had actually only just turned 18.
67th Medium Regiment was raised in 1939 as a duplicate of 58th (Suffolk) Medium Regiment R.A. (T.A.) (part of the doubling of the TA in 1939). The regiment comprised of HQ, 232 Battery (Ipswich) and 231 Battery (Woodbridge and Felixstowe) and men were generally recruited from around South West Suffolk.
We are not exactly sure how and when Len joined the army, but we do know that he ended up joining the 67 Medium Regiment and so we suspect this was shortly after the outbreak of the war.
On the outbreak of war, the Regiment served in defence of south east England against enemy attack. The Regiment was sent to North Africa in July 1941 as part of the Operation Crusader, an operation to relieve the siege of Tobruk and push back the axis forces.
The regiment was equipped with medium-calibre guns (typically 5.5-inch or 4.5-inch guns) designed for supporting infantry and armoured divisions at greater distances than field artillery.
During this phase of the war, the advantage in the Western Desert, lay with the German Afrika Corps and their Italian partners, under the command of the legendary German General, later to become Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.
The German and Italian forces had surrounded and cut off allied forces in the strategically important port town of Tobruk, on the Lybian coastline. Control of this deep water port was fiercely contested between the allies and the axis forces.
It was hoped that the defenders, including Len’s Regiment could hold Tobruk at least until a larger relief force could be sent from the British military stronghold of Egypt. But preparing such force would take some time.
In the meantime Rommel decided to launch his own devastating attack on 20 June 1942 on the town and despite some fierce fighting the garrison was quickly overwhelmed and surrendered on the 21 June 1942. This was a humiliating defeat for the allies, only second to the disaster seen at Singapore.
Len’s entire Regiment was captured in Tobruk on 21st June 1942. On surrender, the men became prisoners of the Italy army and were transferred to Italian POW camps. While many of Len’s comrades made it to the Italian POW camps Len was not so lucky.
The SS Scillin was an Italian cargo ship being used to transport Allied POWs, mainly British, from Tobruk to Italy on 14 November 1942. The ship was unmarked and did not bear the Red Cross marker in line with the Geneva convention. The ship was spotted and subsequently sunk by a British submarine, HMS Sahib and it sank in minutes.
It was estimated that the ship was carrying 814 POWs, mostly British and most were locked in the hold. Only 27 POWs survived. Over 760 British POWs and some Italian guards were lost.
It is thought that Len Green and one other Hadleigh man from the same regiment, Walter Woods, were also lost at this time.
In the aftermath of the war this incident was classified by the British and families were simply told that the relatives were lost at sea. Full disclosure did not come out until decades later when researchers and historians pieced together records. The SS Scillin incident is now considered to be one of the worse friendly fire maritime disasters of WW2.