Died
9 June 1944
Born
Not Known
Sources
Netherlands Institute of Military History
Place
Walks
Themes
Leung Kan
KONINKRIJK
DER NEDERLANDEN
LEUNG KAN
MATROOS K.V.
9.6.1944
Koninkrijk der Nederlanden means Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Matroos means Ordinary Seaman.
My first researches indicated that K.V. is a military decoration, the Kruis van Verdeinste, or Cross of Merit. It was a decoration instituted by the Dutch (strictly speaking, the Netherlands) Government in Exile in 1941.
However, an enquiry to the Netherlands Institute of Military History brought the following response in July 2013:
In response to your request for information regarding Leung Kan I can hereby inform you as follows. Leung Kan was a seaman of the Dutch merchant fleet (koopvaardij). Therefore K.V. is not a military decoration, but short for koopvaardij (meaning merchant fleet). KvV is short for Kruis van Verdienste, a military decoration. Unfortunately there is no personal record of this sailor, which most likely means he was not of Dutch origin. The records of sailors on board the Dutch merchant fleet who did not have the Dutch nationality are unfortunately not complete. I have not been able to locate any decorations in his name.
I have been unable to find out why Leung Kan was in Barrow, about the time of the D-Day landings. He was probably from the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia (and other independent nations). Censorship regulations during the war meant that some things would not be reported: the death of a foreign sailor apparently being one of them. Presumably there was a post-mortem.
Another possibility is that he was a crew member of a Dutch submarine being built/fitted out in the Shipyard. Or perhaps he had been landed (ill) from Royal Netherlands Navy ship Dolfijn (Built in Barrow as RN P47 from 1941) en route to Holy Loch before refitting at Dundee (from 7 June 1944).
