Able Seaman John Rae

Able Seaman John Baptie Rae, Royal Navy. He died of broncho-pneumonia in the Naval Auxiliary Hospital, Colombo on Active Service on the 7th April 1945 aged 20. He was the son of John and Mary Rae of 16 Thornfield Terrace, Selkirk and is buried in Colombo ( Liveramentu ) Cemetery, Colombo, Sri Lanka where his headstone is inscribed ” At The Going Down Of the Sun And In The Morning We Will Remember Him”. He had served aboard the H.M.S. “Ceylon” which was a “Crown Colony ” Class light cruiser of 8700 tons and a crew of 730. Her main armament was nine six inch guns in three turrets. She had been built at Govan on the Clyde and commissioned in July 1943. The ship was soon sent to the Far east and saw action against the Japanese in the Indian Ocean. In November 1944 she joined the British Pacific Fleet and took part in a raid on Pankalan Bradan en route. BY may 1945 she was back in the Indian Ocean and was there when the War ended.