McCombe, Albert Ernest

Captain

Merchant Navy

Commemorated:

Second World War Roll of Honour Memorial Plaque in Portaferry Presbyterian Church

BIOGRAPHY

Captain McCombe’s name is included in this website to illustrate a point about the interpretation of Roll of Honour data in churches.

Twenty-two names are listed on the Second World War Roll of Honour Memorial Plaque in Portaferry Presbyterian Church.  This memorial does not differentiate between those who served and died and those who served and survived.  The name Ernest McCombe, Merchant Navy is included.

On the McCombe family grave headstone in Ballymanish Cemetery, Portaferry Captain Albert Ernest McCombe who was lost at sea off Singapore is commemorated.  The date of his death is not shown, and his name was not found in the CWGC Debt of Honour.

Family records indicate that Albert Ernest McCombe of Ballywallon, Portaferry was born on 20 June 1914 and he was a career seaman.  He obtained his Captain’s ticket and served in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War.

Captain Albert Ernest McCombe survived the Second World War and he died in the 1960s when he went down with his ship after it was in collision with another ship as it left Singapore Harbour.

During the Second World War Ernest’s brother, Napier McCombe, served with the Royal Air Force and survived.