Richard attended Birmingham University after leaving Wrekin to study electrical engineering and so was exempt from military service until completion of full-time education. However, he volunteered for the service in the RAF in the autumn of 1940.

After completing qualifying training in England Richard was then expected to complete his course and gain his commission in Rhodesia. In this regard he was a passenger on the troopship SS Anselm en route to South Africa when the vessel was sunk by U boat U-96, 300 miles north of the Azores on Saturday 5^th July 1941. Richard was 19 years old and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Englefield Green, Surrey .

Son of Cecil Rothwell & Margery Helen Rothwell of Tamworth, Staffordshire.

A downloadable copy of this story is available here.

See also the Commonwealth War Graves Commission permanent digital memorial, ‘Evermore: Stories of the fallen’ relating to:- Aircraftman Richard Charles ROTHWELL