270416 Lt. John Morgan-Richards, Royal Engineers: 30/11/1944

Ok then boys and girls,
Not the kind of question I usually ask but I was wondering if you can help me put some flesh on this? My mum's intrigued by it.

This is a great-uncle of mine:
Lieutenant John Morgan Richards | War Casualty Details | CWGC
LIEUTENANT JOHN MORGAN RICHARDS
Service Number: 270416
Regiment & Unit/Ship: Royal Engineers
Date of Death: Died 30 November 1944
Age 38 years old
Buried or commemorated at IMPHAL WAR CEMETERY
Grave Reference: 7. J. 20.
Location: India
Additional Info: Son of Thomas Morgan Richards and Rosalind Morgan Richards, of Barnes, Surrey. M.I.Struct.E.
Personal Inscription: IN LOVING MEMORY OF JOHN, ONLY SON OF ROSALIND AND THOMAS M. RICHARDS, LONDON

Family legend has it that he was killed in Burma when his jeep struck a mine, only having been in country for a week after discarding reserved occupation status to volunteer (architect/civil engineer we think).
Saddest part of the story is the immediate family, Mother, siblings etc. apparently never mentioned him again from the moment the news arrived, presumably 'stiff upper lip' and all that...

Any chance whatsoever of adding more to the story on such a limited start? I know with a bit of luck you 'regi-mental' types can be damned good at this and there's very little chance of more info from the family.
The CWGC listing has him down as Richards, but the family name was Morgan-Richards.
Cheers,
Adam.

 

Adam,
Sad story that.
Maybe put a request on the Burma Star site?
Get your Mum to order his Service Record.
Find his Unit then check their war Diary at TNA, Officer casualties are usually mentioned.
What School/University did he go to?
Some Unis have already researched their Old Boys War Dead.

(PS Thought you weren't into family history. )

 

Thank you very much, Tony. Had completely forgotten this thread. (15 years old thread! )
All those things adding more to the limited knowledge.
Grim detail he took a week to die. Story had been instant until your info.

 

Well...
My mother had no photographs of herself as a child, and maybe three or four of her family.
Her final sibling dying led to the revelation of a vast heap of family photos etc.
Finally got a chance to inspect them and begin scanning stuff.

Pretty much all I had on My Great Uncle was the CWGC reference above & Tony's kind additions.
This has changed somewhat...

The man himself, Prewar:


As a child:


As a Cellist (Apparently under the stage name 'John Gabalfa'. I'm going to assume some separation was required between life as an architect/Engineer & playing in orchestras.) :


Many other such images have bubbled up, but I'm already starting get an idea of a person, rather than just a few lines of CWGC & official info.
Then In that heap of photos, I picked out a tatty plastic folder.
In the folder were letters and assorted other newspaper cuttings etc.

The substantial amount of letters tell a tale of someone that fought to get into the Army from a reserved occupation, was torpedoed (maybe twice, I haven't read them all yet), & was keen to keep his mother informed of his progress. They also have a slightly excited tone about finally getting into the war. He comes across as a good-natured chap.


Christmas cards, etc.


In the middle of all that was this:


Finally! An image of the man in uniform.
Maybe somewhat ill at ease in uniform, or maybe rather uncomfortable at the portrait being taken, but the one clear image I've ever seen of Lt. John Morgan Richards RE in service.


And then, beneath all the letters. A very small envelope, different to all the other wartime mail, addressed to his mum, my Great Grandmother.
One that would doubtless make many here go 'Oh'.
It certainly did me.


And, of course, within:




You sort of sit and stare for a while.
I've got kids. I cannot imagine receiving such.




I wasn't fully aware that the CWGC sent images of grave markers etc., but there's a fair amount of correspondence with them.



Interesting change to one of the addressed envelopes:


And this.


Killed ten days after he sent a Christmas card to his mum...





What this overload of things relating to the man has largely done for me, other than somehow making him 'real', is strengthen the feeling that it is so important to remember these people.
And 'People' is the word. Not heroes or a 'greatest generation', just people; with all the traits and personal history that people carry, warts & all, who went off and engaged in a cause greater than themselves.
(Even the family's inability to speak of him is part of that story. I'd thought maybe stiff upper lip, but someone kept that folder, and someone had many of his photographs bundled in one place, sometimes taken from albums to add to the bundle.)

Sometimes they returned to carry on with normal life.
Sometimes they stayed where their lives were cut short, like my Great Uncle John.

Cheers,
~A

 

Died on this day, 78 years ago.
A week in hospital after the jeep incident.

Really must get to the bottom of that one day.
The story of the vehicle hitting a mine seems to persist within the family.