An appreciation for the life of
Lt Cdr Tom Ladner RCN. 1916 – 2006.
Tom Ladner was born on the 8th December 1916 in Vancouver – the son of Lawyer, MP, Diplomat – Mr Leon Ladner, and Grandson of a Cornish miner who had sought his fortune in the Californian and Fraser River gold rushes before turning his hand at farming.
Educated at the Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island – then Leys School Cambridge. He went on to the University of British Columbia - then into Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. During a debate in the University he had proposed that Canada should withdraw from the Union of the British Empire if GB should declare War. However, once War was declared he volunteered alongside his closest friends –‘ Corney’ Burke and ‘Wimpy’ Maitland and they generally became known as ‘The Three Musketeers’ during their War time careers.
By Wartimes end – Maitland had earned a DSC and Bar, a Croix-de-Guerre and two mentions in dispatches. Burke had earned a DSC and two Bars with four mentions in dispatches while Tom Ladner earned the DSC and Bar with four mentions in dispatches.
After his initial training at HMCS York, Toronto he transferred to HMS King Alfred Sussex UK for his commission – arriving in the UK during the first day light bombing raid on London.
His first posting was onto a former Canadian Pacific Liner – by then the Armed Merchant Cruiser ‘Forfar’. She was torpedoed by the famous U-Boat ace Kapitan Lt Otto Kretschmer in U99.
Tom Ladner was one of the 27 survivors
He joined Coastal Forces with the 8th MGB Flotilla and became the CO of MGB 75.
During one raid off the Dutch Coast his boat became so damaged that he could not make the ‘open sea’, so he hid his craft behind a large Buoy ..”until things quietened down”.. He then made his way back to Felixstowe on two Engines only with a large hole in the Bow - taking a short cut through a minefield.
After a two month leave – which he managed to take in Canada – he returned to join a ‘Dog Boat’ Flotilla and headed for the Mediterranean Theatre. It was in this area that he earned his first DSC There are many of his exploits that could be recorded here but luckily they can be found in the many books written about the Mediterranean War – he was a real hero and we owe so much to the likes of Lt Cdr Ladner – his Crew’s - and of course his contemporaries from all the former Dominions