Unsung hero
It has just come to light that buried in an unmarked grave in Malta is a crewman, Raymond Banner, of the battered oil tanker SS Ohio, which limped into Grand Harbour on August 15, 1942 with the vital oil supply needed to save the island. The crippled...
It has just come to light that buried in an unmarked grave in Malta is a crewman, Raymond Banner, of the battered oil tanker SS Ohio, which limped into Grand Harbour on August 15, 1942 with the vital oil supply needed to save the island.
The crippled Ohio was berthed at French Creek when Mr Banner was taken to hospital where six weeks later he died and, it seems without ceremony, was buried on September 28, 1942 in Ta' Braxia Cemetery, making him the only member of the Ohio to be buried in Malta.
Having died in a hospital it is assumed that is why nobody connected him with the SS Ohio and the reason why he became forgotten.
An attempt is now being made to try and find information on whether Mr Banner was one of the crewmen who remained on board the Ohio until it entered Grand Harbour or was one of the men taken off the tanker and brought to Malta in another ship. This information is needed so that Mr Banner will be correctly remembered in Malta's history.