Willem Johannes Bouman, geboren te Leeuwarden op 4 maart 1898 en verdronken op 13 mei 1942 in de Caribische Zee, a/b van de m.s. Brabant. Hij had de rang van Ltz. II SD, in het militair onderdeel KMR. 
Hij was mijn oudoom, broer van mijn grootvader Severien Bouman (van vaders kant). Het verhaal was altijd dat hij na zijn vertrek naar Canada geheel van de aardbodem leek verdwenen, niemand in de familie wist waar hij gebleven was. Pas enkele jaren geleden kwamen we erachter dat hij in dienst was getreden bij de marine en in 1942 zou beginnen aan zijn (eerste?) functie op Curaçao. Hij was er 13 mei 1942 bijna, toen vlak voor Port-of-Spain (Trinidad) het schip door een Duitse torpedo werd getroffen en zonk. Hij behoorde tot de verdronkenen.

In 1919, at the age of 20, Willem Johannes went to Rotterdam. He was amanuensis at the municipal hospital of Rotterdam and mechanic. On 25 August 1921, at the age of 23, he married in Rotterdam the 17-year-old Catharina Jacoba Jacomijntje Hansen (1904 Rotterdam - ?), daughter of a coffee house owner. His parents were present at the wedding, they were still living in Leiden at that time.
On March 11, 1923 Willem Johannes left for Toronto; his wife followed on August 18, 1925, a year and a half later. 
At some point during World War II he was in England. From Glasgow he left aboard the Belgian MS Brabant for Curaçao; by now he was a lieutenant at sea 2nd class. The ship was torpedoed 14 May 1942, Willem Johannes thus received a seaman's grave.

This is what we know happened on the evening of the 13th or the night of the 14th of May 1942:
When the German submarine U-155 (Kapitän leutnant Adolf Cornelius Piening) was patrolling the Caribbean Sea west of Trinidad on 13 May 1942, several convoys were spotted. However, the protection provided by aircraft is so strong that Piening cannot get into position for an attack.
In the afternoon, the U-155 spots a lone ship and follows it underwater. The Belgian m.s. Brabant (captain M. Hostens) has just left Trinidad, bound for Curaçao. After sunset, Piening surfaces and sets off in pursuit at high speed. At 22:00, the U-155 is in a good firing position and fires a torpedo at the Brabant at a distance of 1000 meters. Despite Piening clearly seeing the bubble track in the clear water, the danger on the Brabant is not noticed in time.
One minute later, the torpedo hits the front of the bridge. The ship sinks within eight minutes.
Four people on board are killed, including LTZ2 W.J. Bouman, from the UK on his way to his posting on Curaçao.
Willem Johannes and Catharina Hansen got three children in Canada. We would love to get in touch with our relatives, whom we didn't know we had until recently. Machteld Bouman (second cousin of Willem Johannes Bouman)