The Battle and Massacre of Wormhout - 28th May 1940

My dad was a Gunner in 210 Battery, (Worcester Yeomanry) 53 A/T, Royal Artillery who were attached to the Warwickshire’s .

 

I am now connected but it is difficult to write in english...
For Drew, I heard that a british is looking for the officer who is buried unknow at Esquelbecq british cemetery ; he will be Piers Richard EDGECUMBE, son of the 5th Earl of Edgecumbe.
Cordialement

 

Hi Guy

Nice to see you here-We exchanged emails sometime ago regarding Edgecumbe and Webber in Esquelbecq. I believe it is Edgecumbe in the Unknown Grave next to Webber from files I have and the account in your book about Webber's death in the farmhouse. Sadly not enough evidence to get Edgecumbe's name engraved on the unknown headstone next to Webber.

I think the key to identifying him may be in local French records from when the bodies were found and buried?

Regards
Andy

 

Hello Andy,
The problem is that the british made mistakes when they are writing stories and located them at false towns....
For exemple : the massacre of Wormhout... in fact it is Esquelbecq
The two soldiers killed at the café "le repos des chasseurs" (Hunters rest) were killed and buried at Zegers Cappel (the other side of the main road), not Esquelbecq.
They were exhumed on 26 november 1942 by town people of Zegers and buried at Esquelbecq british cemetery.
I found the minutes of the exhumation and I can said that the officer unknown had blond hair and a particulary and located dentition with 5 gold teeth (I have the drawing).
The officer is buried following WEBER who was with the officer.
is it enough ?
Cordialement

 

This is good news. The teeth may be enough. Were there any personal possessions with the body?

 

no, only the clothes are noting :
veste en cuir avec boutons et 4 poches
blouson avec fermeture éclair, doublure à carreaux, lignes bleues sans manche
bas apparemment de sports
no trousers !!??

 

Y a-t-il des badges sur les boutons qui pourraient identifier le regiment?

 

You have to hope that CWGC never saw the exhumation report and never exhumed him themselves so that a negative dental ID has never been made.
Despite all that negativity, I am trying to be positive...

 

Salut Guy
Serait-il possible de m'envoyer une copie des écritures(de la paperasserie) que vous avez constatées pour moi regarder ? Si vous êtes heureux de partager ce nouvel infomation je contacterai le Ministère de la Défense et la Commission de Tombes de Guerre de Commonwealth pour chercher des conseils quant à ses dossiers dentaires pour la comparaison.

Respects
Andy

 

Give me your adresse mail

 

M. Rommelaere, merci de participer à ce forum anglophone et bien sûr de tous vos efforts pour attirer l'attention sur ces événements.

I hope that with the steps now being taken, it will be possible to prove once and for all if Piers Edgcumbe lies in the un-named grave at Esquelbecq.

British Army records usually include a dental treatment and record card which may prove definitive in this case - such as this one:-

 

This advice may help;-

https://assets.publishing.service.g...sue_15-JSP_751-Volume_2-_Redacted_Version.pdf
Kyle

 

drew5233 at hotmail.com

Merci

 

Cheers Kyle - Remarkably My best mate currently posted in Gloster has a contact there.

 

Andy,
You may want to remove the @ and replace it with `at` in your address. Spammers and crawlers?

Kyle

 

Kyle - you have to remember Drew's not good with techno stuff - wasnt there a problem not long back with some files?

TD

 

Too late - I've received over 60 emails this afternoon from a religious group ffs !

 

You kids of today will never learn

TD

 

There is a separate thread dealing with the incident at Zegerscappel.

6898432 Lance Corporal Leonard F. Webber, 2nd Battalion, Queen Victoria's Rifles, KRRC.

For the sake of good order, this image which had been posted on the 'BEF Vehicles' thread shows the burned Guy Armoured Car outside the Café - "Au Repos des Chasseurs" mentioned above. The sign can be seen on the right-hand side of the building.

 

Hello,
No problem - the house behind the armoured car is "au repos des chasseurs", a small bistrot at the time on the roman road - town of Zegers Cappel.
I send the same armoured car taken on the other side. We can see two holes....

Cordialement - Guy