Lieutenant William
Bashford Ettie, RN

Bill followed his brother George into the Royal Navy. Born and raised in Gosport, Hampshire. His naval career was also predetermined by the premature death of his father. His mother not able to raise six children by herself, Bill was sent off to the Royal Hospital School, Greenwich.

One of the principal aims of the Greenwich Hospital Charter being "the maintenance and education of children of seamen". Upon graduation, at the age of sixteen, Bill joined HMS Ganges for his basic training in the Royal Navy.

Bill's first posting after HMS Ganges was aboard HMS Rodney coinciding with the Invergordon Mutiny. He then went on to HMS Malaya followed by four years in the Mediterranean aboard HMS Delhi. During this time he frequently ran into George who was also with the Mediterranean fleet. Next he spent time on board HMS PLover, an experimental mine layer. For the early part of the war Bill was again in the Mediterranean, aboard the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Cairo. He recalled escort missions where he was heavily attacked by German and Italian bombers, narrowly escaping death several times but suffering a partial hearing loss when an unexploded bomb went off in front of him, killing the man behind him! He was also on the Cairo during Operation Pedestal when she was torpedoed by an Italian submarine and had to be abandoned and sunk. The rest of the war was spent ashore followed by time on the aircraft carriers Indomitable, Implacable, Theseus and Victorious.

Till his death Bill followed a variety of civilian careers including chinchilla ranching and teaching, and spent a number of years living in Ontario, Canada before returning to England where he died shortly thereafter.