Christmas present - Tribute to my granduncle

[Vegard T]

Hiya all

I haven't really been that active here for a while because of school and other things, but I thought I'd share a project I started on late last year:
A shadowbox in tribute of my granduncle.

He served in the Norwegian Merchant Fleet during the war, and died 11 March 1943 when his ship was hit by a torpedo in the middle of the Atlantic.

A couple of years back, I found out about my granduncle by a coincidence, and decided to do some research on him, after a while i found a mention of him in a book about all the Norwegian KIA during the war, so I printed it out and gave her the clipping in a frame. She was very happy since that was the first time she had seen him since before the war. And last year, I decided that a tiny clipping wasn't much of a tribute to him, nor a proper way for her to remember him.
So I started on this little project, got the medals together, got a colorized picture of him(Thanks Bill T!), got it properly framed, and got it in time for Christmas.

So here it is:
The two medals are Defence Medal 1940-1945 and the Norwegian War Medal.





"In Memory of Able Seaman Harald Skålnes
Born: 16 January 1919
Died: 11 March 1943


Born 16 January 1919 in Skånevik

Harald went to sea already as a 17 year old, aboard the school ship "Statsråd Lehmkuhl". Just before the German invasion of Norway 9. April 1940, he traveled from Sundsvall in Sweden. He served on the following ships during the war:
"Vikto" of Oslo until 25. November 1940
"Brisk" until 11. February 1942
"Brant County" of Bergenske dampskisselskap
"Brant County" went from Halifax 2. March 1943
Loaded with 670 tons of explosives and carbide on it's way to England in convoy HX 228. At 02:10 AM 11. March 1943 Brant County is hit by a torpedo in the 3rd hatch. A big part of the load in this hatch consisted of carbide which immediately caught fire. 6-7 minutes after the torpedo hit, the TNT on board explodes. Steel beams and wreckage is raining everywhere. The periscope of the u boat that sunk the ship (U-757) is damaged in the explosion and has to return to base to get it repaired.
Of the crew of 58, there are 23 survivors and 35 killed.

One of the killed is Able Seaman Harald Skålnes"

[Gunny Hartmann]

That's a great display!...

[Panzer 3]

Hi Vegar,
That,s a great thing to do for your family, i should think it brought memories flooding back about your granduncle. Now it is in pride of place he will be remembered for ever. Well done.
Dave.

[harryamb2]

we forget some times the debt we all owe the merchant seaman.from one harold to another harald RIP.

[Totenhead]

Excellent Tribute !

[SteveR]

That is very nice.

[Jerry B]

Excellent thing to have done and it looks really good.

[maximus71]

very nice!

[Dean]

That's a great thing to do. Your story sounds remarkingly like mine. I accidentally found out about my great g-pa while reading a book about war heros . I recognized the name and cut the pages out .then I sent them to my grandma. I was just thinking about doing a little more for her as you have.thanks for the added influence!
Dean.

[sandgroper]

That's a great effort mate, well done on the research and put it all together in a very fitting display.