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Gordon Scales

Gordon Scales was born on 14 November 1925 and attended the School between September 1937 and July 1941.

Gordon joined the Merchant Navy and sailed on the SS Oporto.

On 13 March 1943, the SS Oporto was a carrying a cargo from Liverpool to Seville. At 05:30, she was torpedoed by a U-Boat. Only 4 crew members were picked up by HMS Spiraea and landed at Gibraltar. The master and 36 crew, including Gordon Scales, aged 17, are recorded on the Tower Hill Memorial which commemorates those who served in the Merchant Navy and who have no grave but the sea.

His name is also recorded on the Grammar School’s War Honours Board — alongside the names of all of the Grammar School’s alumni to die in the First and Second World Wars.

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