George Benjamin Arthur Moll (1903-1940) of Martham

George is listed on the War Memorial as one of those who gave his life during the Second World War.

George was born on 19^th April 1903 in Martham. He was the first child of Benjamin Arthur Moll & Ann Elizabeth, nee Grimmer. He had three sisters namely Edith, Elsie and Laura. George was baptized at St Mary’s on 1^st May 1903 and was listed in the 1911 census when he was eight and a school boy living with his parents at Black Street. He joined the Royal Navy where he worked from 1921 until 1933 and when he was 33, he married Ethel Mabel Molly Simpson at Ipswich, where she was from, in 1937.

Following the outbreak of World War II, he served in the Navy in 1940 on HMS Acheron as Able Seaman PJ/99333.  HMS Acheron was an A-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She operated during the Second World War mostly near the Norwegian coast but was further south just off the Isle of Wight when she hit a mine and sank on 17^th December 1940. The wreck site is designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. It was on that day that George drowned and has no known grave but is commemorated on the Portsmouth Royal Naval Memorial, panel 39 column 1 as well as on Martham War Memorial.

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