Charles Paris was born in Valletta in 1921. At 18, in January 1940, without his parents’ knowledge and before waiting for his conscription papers, he joined the Royal Navy as an assistant steward at the Naval Depot. After two months training, he was drafted with other Maltese cooks and stewards to the County Class cruiser HMS Sussex, which had made a brief stop at Malta on its way from South Africa to the UK.
Leading steward Charles Paris in June 1940.
The vessel docked in Liverpool in March for a two-month refit and then joined the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. But the ship developed a propeller fault and proceeded to the Clyde in Scotland for repairs. On the night before it was due to leave on September 18, 1940, at about 1am, a lone German bomber dropped three bombs on Yorkhill Quay, one of which fell on the cruiser, which fully loaded with ammunition.