--- On Thu, 12/11/09, Frederick Noronha <fredericknoro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Couldn't they be Mangaloreans,
> Brazilians or Portuguese? Just curious
> to know why you believe they are Goan, Mike? FN
Nascy responds:
Dear Frederick; They could not have been 'Portuguese' as Portugal was a neutral
country in the Second World War. Brazil never took part in this war, either;
so these names peeople could not have been Brazilians.
But these persons most probably are all of Goan or Mangalorean descent.
Thousand of Goans and some Mangaloreans were serving with the British Merchant
Ships, and many of these were torpedoed by the German War Machine, and as a
result many lost their lives. Many telegrams used to arrive, daily, in
Christian Goan homes telling of the sad demise of a relative; and so many
widows were instantly created by the War. There also were a lot of Goans with
the Royal Navy, some of whom I have later personally met in Bombay, and that's
how I know.
Others lived to tell the tale of how, after a ship wreck, they had been for
hours on end, with life jackets on, in the oceans, before being picked up and
taken to safety.
Christian Goans were socially advanced, in that they had no taboos and other
superstitions about eating or handling food that the British and westerners
ate; and that is the reason they were employed in large numbers on variuos
Ships at the time, and EVEN NOW.
Hence there were also lots of 'caualties' with Christian Goan and Mangalorean
names. The Mangaloreans and the Goans were all recruited through Bombay and
Calcutta and Karachi, all of which were under British Domain, then. Never from
Goa of that point in time.
> 2009/11/12 Michael Ali <mikeal...@aol.com>:
> > On this Veteran's day let us pause and
> > say a prayer for the large number of Goans
> > who have laid down their lives in the service
> > of their country. A partial search of the
> > website of the  Commonwealth War
> > Graves Commission www.cwgc.org lists
> > 215 Fernandes, 59 D'Souzas, 45 Dias',
> > 21 D'Silvas, 4 Noronhas, 3 D'Mellos
> > among others.
Nascy adds:
Yes why not? Let us pause to remember and pray! Will the Goan Hindus do the
same for their fallen fellow Goans? I hope they too, do likewise.
Amen.
Nascy Caldeira
Melbourne Down Under.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Win 1 of 4 Sony home entertainment packs thanks to Yahoo!7.
Enter now: http://au.docs.yahoo.com/homepageset/
