Leslie William Buckett; Leading Stoker, HMS Cornwall. Died 5th April 1942

Leslie was born in Melton on 9th September 1913. He was the second son of Henry James and Maria Buckett (née Cake) Henry was a domestic Gardener and both he and his wife were from the Isle of Wight.

It is likely that Leslie had joined the Royal Navy before the war began. In 1942 he was serving on HMS Cornwall, a County Class Heavy Cruiser, as a leading stoker.

In April 1914, HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire were in port in Columbo, Ceylon, to refuel which was fraught with danger as there were warnings of approaching enemy aircraft from three Japanese aircraft carriers in the area. On leaving port on the 4th April, the crew of both cruisers were on “Action Stations” aware that an attack could happen at any time. By the end of the day a Japanese reconnaissance plane had spotted them. The following day, Easter Sunday, they were spotted from the air once more and the crew knew that there was likely to be some action as the Japanese carriers were nearby. Without warning in the early afternoon, both the Cornwall and Dorsetshire came under attack from a wave of dive bombers. Within half an hour of the attack commencing, the Cornwall’s Captain gave the order to abandon ship and it sank fifteen minutes later closely followed by the Dorsetshire.

One hundred and ninety men on the Cornwall and two hundred and thirty-four from the Dorsetshire died in the attack. One thousand one hundred and twenty-two men were rescued by the light cruiser, HMS Enterprise, having spent thirty hours in the water.

Leslie was one of those killed on the HMS Cornwall and he is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial. In 1939, two of Leslie’s younger brothers were living at 3 Tollgate Cottages, Melton which is believed to have been the family home and also the address given by Leslie as his home.