Cousin Jack's British Military Service

Jack Landor, my grandfather's first cousin, left an incredible paper trail across the world.

He was kidnapped from what was then Poland as a child, lived in then-Palestine (under the British mandate), Turkey, and Italy, was caught as a stowaway on a ship and applied for citizenship of multiple countries, survived a shipwreck, and was deported from the United States before becoming an illegal immigrant by deserting his ship.  And he served in the US Navy near the end of World War II.

In addition to all of that, he was in the British Navy at the beginning of World War II--and I now have some of those records.

Cover of Jack Landor's British Seaman's Identity Card

Jack was an engineer who had the Diamond blue eyes; his mother, Esther Diamond Landor, was my great-grandfather's sister.

Jack Landor's British Seaman Identity Card

Jack's file did not have a lot about his service (although we do know that in April 1943 he survived the sinking of the S.S. Empress of Canada).

From Jack Landor's British Seaman Packet

He consistently asserts that his place of birth was "Horochow, Poland" (now Horochiv, Ukraine).

The only date in Jack Landor's British Seaman's Packet

As of August 1941, Jack was in the British Navy, and he was still enlisted during the 1943 shipwreck--but by 1944 he was in the US Navy.  I haven't found evidence of why he left the British Navy--but I'll keep looking.  Because knowing Cousin Jack, it's recorded somewhere.

Note:  I'm on Twitter.  Follow me (@larasgenealogy).

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