Ronald Proudfree – Royal Navy, H.M.S. Sanderling

Able Seaman Ronald Proudfree – Royal Navy, H.M.S. Sanderling

Early Life

British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records

Ronald Proudfree, born in 1928, is one of the few Cwmgelli servicemen for whom almost no early‑life documentation survives. His childhood does not appear in the census or register material, leaving only the brief outline preserved in the British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records.

Royal Navy Service

Ronald Proudfree
Cwmgelli Cemetery, Swansea
credit - findagrave

Ronald served in the Royal Navy, ranked as an Able Seaman. At the time of his death, he was serving aboard H.M.S. Sanderling, a vessel associated with naval aviation and training duties in the post‑war period. Royal Navy’s air station at Abbotsinch, Renfrewshire — later developed into Glasgow Airport

Death and Burial

Ronald Proudfree died on 27 February 1947 at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. His body was brought home to Swansea and laid to rest at Cwmgelli Cemetery, marking the final post‑Second World War burial among the servicemen commemorated there.