Sanders, Harry

Harry Sanders sailed the oceans of the world during the Second World War.  Born in the small seaside community of South Shields, in Great Britain, he answered a Marconi company ad on the topic of wireless operators, and soon his training was underway, as he left school and South Shields behind him.  Soon named a junior radio officer, his adventures began, as he would move from one ship to the next in subsequent years, joining one convoy after the next.  Harry crossed the Atlantic on many occasions, seeing ports of call everywhere in the world.  Along the way he and the men and women of the merchant marine sustained the war effort, bringing crucial supplies to Britain in her hour of need.  And Harry did pay the price:  one of his ships was torpedoed on the south Atlantic, where Harry was lucky to survive, clinging to a raft and following the current ashore to Sierra Leone.  Shipped back to England, it was on to the next adventure, which included an assignment to an Allied troop ship, ferrying the men to Omaha Beach once D-Day was underway.  In the final days of the war, he brought supplies to the men fighting the Battle of the Bulge, and to the Dutch survivors of the “Hunger Winter”.

Harry came to our attention as the result of an article in the Toronto Star, and Tillsonburg Mayor Stephen Molnar helped put Mr. Masters in touch, and Mr. Masters visited Harry in his home in early January 2018.