#hms juno

Octant, by Spencer Browning, London, 18th century

John Talbot, winner of the British Expeditionary Medal during his time with the Metropolitan Police, was a Royal Navy bomb disposal diver during the Second World War. On May 21st, 1941 he was aboard the British cruiser HMS Juno when it was attacked and sunk by Italian bombers during the battle of Crete. Of 212 men, 116 lost their lives as three high explosive shells tore the vessel in two and sunk her in just under three minutes. John was one of the 96 men who survived the attack, although five of these later died of their injuries.

In the same month, his brother, Plt Off Henry Talbot [aged 24], crashed in thick fog during a routine RAF flight in Iceland. Having been injured in a previous crash, he had been placed in a Fairey Battle bomber for transport from a hospital ship back to the mainland before an expected return to Britain. Twenty-eight miles after take off the bomber crashed in the mountains of the Vaskardular Valley, killing the four airmen.

Shortly after, their mother received two telegrams on the same day, telling her that both her sons were missing and presumed dead. It was a week before she heard that John had survived the sinking of the Juno and John himself was only informed of the loss of his brother after he had been stationed in North Africa, at Tobruk. Henry Talbot, remained lost in the wild landscape for a period of 60 years until finally, in the year 2000, climbers in Iceland located the wreckage of the aircraft and reclaimed the bodies from the heart of a melting glacier. Preserved in the ice, the remains of the four servicemen were brought down from the mountain and John, now in his 70s, was able to travel to a country he had never seen, been inextricably connected to, and say goodbye to a brother he had last known as a young man during the heat of war. Their story was finally brought to rest.