Marine PO/X 107400 Thomas Joseph Lowe

Family details:
Son of Arthur and Annie Lowe, of St. Helens, Lancashire.

Census details:
1939 Register. 16 years old Thomas Lowe born 15/01/1923 a Block Minder Glass Works, father Arthur Lowe born 11/01/1898 a Corporation Gen Labourer, mother Annie Lowe born 04/12/1897 an Unpaid Domestic and sisters Lily Lowe 03/09/1930 an Invalid At Home School Age, Annie Moundell (Lowe) born 19/10/1933 At School are living at 79 Lyon Street, St Helens. Three members of the household are redacted.

[center][pic2]imgs/S1PWHYAOTV/601_LCM_zpsa39c1703.png[/pic2][/center][caption]The British Mk1 LCM[/caption] [b]The British Mk1 LCM (Landing Craft Mechanised)[/b] was the type allocated to the men of 601 LCM Flotilla. They were some 44 feet in length by 14 feet across the bows. The vast majority of the 500 British built Mk1s came from the workshops of the Great Western Railway at Swindon in Wiltshire and from the Southern Railways workshops at Eastleigh, Hampshire.They were designed by Thorneycroft and could carry a 16 ton tank or 6 jeeps or 100 troops. The crew comprised 6 men with an officer being assigned to every third craft. [b]D-DAY[/b] 601 Flotilla landed men onto Sword Beach during operation Overlord. In all, the craft of 601 LCM remained on station for a period of 6 weeks during which time the men and craft, with brief intervals for rest, ferried every conceivable type of stores and equipment from supply ships to the beaches. As the need for 'ferrying' craft diminished the number of LCM Squadrons was halved including 601 LCM and they were ordered back to England. It seems likely that craft of 650 LCM, or elements of it, were also ordered to return leaving the remainder of F Squadron in place on Juno beach.The LCMs were not in the best of condition after 6 weeks of intensive ship to shore ferrying often in rough seas and high winds and there had been little time for servicing and repairs.On the morning of July 21st 1944 601 LCM Flotilla weighed anchor and proceeded independently to rendezvous just off the beach-head with the LCT Flotilla. As the day wore on the weather gradually deteriorated, the craft were being battered by heavy turbulent seas coupled with thunderstorms. By 1720 hours the sea had become so rough that little or no headway was being made despite engines being used at full throttle. It was decided that the craft should return to Juno beach not the least of the considerations being that petrol supplies for the British Mk1 LCMs were getting low. By this time most craft and crews were suffering the detrimental effects of the rough sea, strong winds, heavy rain and sea water pouring over the sides. They soon became dispersed in to the darkness, 5 craft eventually reporting back to the squadron while other craft attained the beach-head at various points. 11 Craft became lost, which included 29 men of 601 Flotilla. [br] [br] [center][pic2]tpics/107400_Lowe2.jpg[/pic2][/center][caption]The name of Marine Thomas Joseph Lowe on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial (Photo courtesy of Jeff Keenan)[/caption]