Eddie Linton (on the right) and George Blackborrow (on the left). Eddie Linton from Newport joined in September 1943 when 17 years old. He was posted to the HMS Drake in Portsmouth before joining the crew on the HMS Mourne in Liverpool. The HMS Mourne was sunk by a U-boat in the English Channel during Operation Neptune (the maritime element of D-Day) on the 15th of June 1944. 110 men lost their lives in the attack and Eddie Linton was one of around 20 to have survived.