Bill Crooks - England

England

Bill Crooks was born in Mutford, Lowestoft, East Suffolk as the son of James and Jane Elizabeth Crooks (née Hale). He had six brothers and sisters. His father was a fisherman on a smack. During World War I his father was appointed to the Trawling Reserve of Britain's seagoing defences. He won a Distinguished Service Medal for sinking a German submarine by ramming it with his ship and his name was honoured in Lowestoft as "one of the bravest fishermen of the fleet". He died shortly after the war, on the 27th of December, 1919 from a pneumonia, that was aggravated by wartime injuries.