August Konrad Korem

In 1939 the Koorem family heard the terrible news that August Konrad Koorem, a brother of Erika’s, who was a sailor,  died ` near Norway when his ship was torpedoed and sunk.

For almost 50 years they thought that this information was correct and that this was how his life came to an end.

In 2008 the amazing news came in (via an email form Wales)  that August had in fact survived and made his way to London or Liverpool, England and then settled down in Barry, Wales where he lived until the ripe old age of 81.  August (who now used the Korem spelling) and his wife Doreen had a daughter Erika who was named after August’s sister Erika.  Erika and her husband Tom Stone have two children – Claire and Alex.

This was really amazing news, but also so very sad – that Erika and August Konrad had been living fairly close to each other in the UK for so many years, and had never known about each other.  They both missed their family so much – and during the Soviet occupation it was extremely  difficult to communicate through the ‘iron curtain.’

Here is some information about August as told to Eric Peggie by his daughter Erika Stone during a phone conversation at Christmas time 2008:

August switched ships in Norway. I don’t know why he switched ships, the captain did not want him to change ships but he did. The ship that he was on originally was torpedoed and that was why it was thought he died. I think the new ship took him to either London or Liverpool or he may have done something during the war and went to London or Liverpool after the war. Again I don’t know what he did during the war but he did get a medal from King Olaf of Norway which his grandson now has.

He remained in the merchant navy for some time but then worked as a rigger?? And then worked as a welder in a Power Station in Wales (Aberthaw  Power Station) and worked his way up to become a 1st Grade welder. He had a motorbike to take him to and from work and then graduated up to an old banger of a car which Erika was embarrassed to be seen in.

He also took in sewing and was very good at it. He was a good swimmer. His wife Doreen liked dancing but August did not. There was an Estonian club in Cardiff but August never went because it would be full of strangers. He never talked that much about Estonia but did mention the house in Saaremaa being half stone and half wood, they spent the summer in the stone half that was cool and the winter in the wooden half.

August died eleven years ago which would make it 1997. He was 81 and had cancer of the pancreas. He had talked of returning to Estonia but never got round to it.

Erika (his daughter) is married to Tom Stone and they have two children, Claire born in 1974 is 34 and Alex born in 1979 is 29. Erika recently became a grandmother. She had worked as an auxiliary nurse but now works part time as a carer for the elderly. Her husband fits double glazing.  Erika and Tom visited Scotland a couple of years ago and stayed at Pitlochry. They must have passed through Perth whilst Erika Koorem was still alive.

Claire Stone, August’s granddaughter passed on this information:

Just to let you know…Our gramps was a very strong minded but a fun person too! He spoke with broken english and made us all laugh continually with his ways over the years…He was as fit as a fiddle, never even had a cold and even had all of his own teeth! After leaving the navy, he worked at Aberthaw Power Station as a welder… Up until he retired at 60 or 65 …..That gave him and Alex the chance to spend lots of time together… They were very close while Alex was growing up…

Claire also stated:

Just for your information, I spoke to my nan yesterday and she says that the reason he switched ships was because he had a ‘bad feeling’ about boarding again…. How lucky was that!!! Always follow your gut instincts eh….. All his paperwork was probably still on the ship when it went down.