Is this person making this up?

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by miltonrow@gmail, Jun 24, 2019.

  1. A local face book claims that

    " my 2 uncle's died on the bridge at Arniem (sic) aged 17 and 18 my gran received 2 telegrams one day next day your sons won't be coming back "

    A combat para at 17?
    MIA telegram next day?


    TIA
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 25, 2019
  2. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

  3. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    You mean those two weren't actually 21?
     
  4. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I'd say that it's possible but statistically unlikely.
     
  5. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    An example of age

    Casualty
    Lance Corporal
    RICHARDSON, ERIC HENRY
    Service Number 14418511
    Died 21/09/1944
    Aged 17
    10th Bn.
    The Parachute Regiment, A.A.C.
    Son of Henry James Richardson and Marie Annie Richardson, of Camberwell, London.

    Also note - not only was he a Para at 17 he was also a Lance Corporal
    TD

    All those buried at Oosterbeek CWGC Cemetery aged between 16 & 19
    Results
     
  6. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    CWGC details for those aged 16 or 17 buried in France - Results

    Example in Paras aged 16
    Casualty
    Private JOHNS, ROBERT EDWARD
    Service Number 14434704
    Died 23/07/1944
    Aged 16
    13th (2/4th Bn. The South Lancashire Regt.) Bn.
    The Parachute Regiment, A.A.C.
    Son of William Henry and Daisy Nellie Johns, of Stamshaw, Portsmouth.

    I dont think this information is BS - do you

    TD

    CWGC aged 16 only buried in France - Results
     
    timuk likes this.
  7. Thanks chaps, thats very sobering statistic, I was only interested inthe Arnhem battle. I would not like to have called him a liar with out checking now I see if I can pin him down to names.
    I have a CWGC reichswald burial notice for an18yr old pal of my dad, but he was not a para.

    I think the original poster is a bit of a piss artist so was cautious about the story.

    Thank you all.
     
  8. redtop

    redtop Well-Known Member

    L/Cpl Richardson must have been very young when he signed on .To complete basic training then para training and then promotion .,I wonder if he was a section commander or a specialist fast tracked?
     
  9. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    TD Eric Henry Richardson’s proper age at death has only very recently been established. I don’t think his headstone, which currently shows his age as 19, has yet been corrected
     
  10. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Horsa - thanks for the update/clarification

    TD
     
  11. redtop

    redtop Well-Known Member

    This was posted on Friends of the Tenth by his Nephew Matthew Fowler
    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]



    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Buteman, ozzy16 and Tricky Dicky like this.
  12. is there an edit facility? I'd like to amend my OP
     
  13. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    There should be, at the bottom of the text box -
    Screenshot 2019-06-25 at 10.35.49.png
    If not let me know and I'll fix it for you.
     
  14. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    get them to name names simple saves you having to trawl through cwgc and the like
    A meaningless post on fb which is full of morons
    Facts thats want you want
     
  15. Chaps names given as Roy and Noel Hardy..... Wilts and Dorset and Parachute regiment.
    I can't see them on that Oosterbeek list, possible they are in another cemetary?

    Sobering to see how many young lads on that list.
     
  16. 51highland

    51highland Very Senior Member

    5385777 Noel George Hardy given as KIA 21/09/1944,11th Battalion Paras, BORN 1914 AGED 30. from Find My Past
    and R.N. Hardy 14673599 1st Battalion Dorsetshire regiment died of wounds 2/11/44.
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2019
  17. travers1940

    travers1940 Well-Known Member

    Hi,

    Names seem correct, but possibly only one at Arnhem.

    Private, HARDY, ROY NORMAN
    Service Number 14673599
    Died 02/11/1944
    Aged 19
    1st Bn.
    Dorsetshire Regiment
    Son of Harry Thomas and Kate Hardy.

    Reinterment at Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Nijmegan, Netherlands from a previous grave.

    CWGC site does not let me view reinterment docs at moment.

    Casualty

    The Army Roll of Honour 1939-45 on ancestry adds:
    born: Wiltshire
    Residence: Wiltshire


    Private HARDY, NOEL GEORGE
    Service Number 5385777
    Died 21/09/1944
    Aged 30
    11th Bn.
    The Parachute Regiment, A.A.C.
    Son of Thomas and Kate Hardy; husband of Beatrice Irene Hardy, of Marlborough, Wiltshire.
    Inscription :IN LOVING MEMORY OF NOEL. HIS WIFE IRENE AND ALL AT 33, FYFIELD, MARLBOROUGH, WILTS. R.I.P

    Reintrement at Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery.

    As above, unable to view reinterment docs at moment.

    The Army Roll of Honour 1939-45 on ancestry adds:
    born: Dorset
    Resident at: Oxford

    Births in GRO index on ancestry confirm:
    HARDY Roy N 1929 Amesbury Reg Dist, Wiltshire Mother: DRAKE
    HARDY Noel G 1925 Sturminster Reg Dist, Dorset, Mother DRAKE
     
  18. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Sorry your first post was one of not having names
    The first thing you do is challenge the poster for further info

    So we have names and they did die but not as the poster suggested go back and give the info.Family history mostly gets lost along the way
     
  19. Many thanks for all that input ,I will pass it on to the person involved, it would seem, as so often, family oral history gets distorted in the remembering.
    basically I initially thought that the ages and KIA dates just did not ring true, in that I was correct.
    I've been reading about rhem on another page and its oft overlooked that soldiers on the other side were also very young lads.

    I have an interest in Arnhem since trying unsuccessfully to blag work onthe film back in 1976 and a friends father was wounded there; he was a para PT instructor, bloody hard man,even 30 years later.
     
  20. travers1940

    travers1940 Well-Known Member

    Apologies, got the years mixed in the GRO birth data. This makes better confirmation of ages on CWGC.

    It should be:

    Births in GRO index on ancestry confirm:
    HARDY Roy N 1925 Amesbury Reg Dist, Wiltshire Mother: DRAKE
    HARDY Noel G 1914 Sturminster Reg Dist, Dorset, Mother DRAKE
     

Share This Page