Accidents/tragedies of WW2

Discussion in 'General' started by saintconor, Aug 3, 2010.

  1. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    I remember an earlier thread by fellow Derryman Peter Mallett (Not sure of his username). Anyway, his uncle Rfn Jack Mallett of the Royal Ulster Rifles was murdered in his sleep by a fellow member of the Regiment. Shocking.
    Royal Ulster Rifles
    post no 27
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2016
  2. saintconor

    saintconor Senior Member

    Cheers Di.
     
  3. saintconor

    saintconor Senior Member

    Four members of 6/Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers who lost their lives as the result of a boating accident in England.

    001 BRUMMELL P 6981581 6TH BN 10/03/1942 ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS
    002 DOYLE R 6977444 6TH BN 10/03/1942 ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS
    003 MCGUIRE J 6981745 6TH BN 10/03/1942 ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS
    004 STEVENSON C 6982282 6TH BN 10/03/1942 ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS
     
  4. grendav2001

    grendav2001 Junior Member

    northern daily mail
    west hartlepool
    18 january 1945

    10 SOLDIERS DROWNED
    ___________________

    TRAGEDY ON COQUET

    ten soldiers lost their lives yesterday on the river coquet, near warkworth, northumberland. they were carrying out exercises in a boat about half a mile south of acklington foundry weir. the river was in flood, and the boat got out of control, was swept over the weir, and capsized. though brave attempts were made at rescue, all were drowned. five bodies have been recovered. they were all single men. the men, all young soldiers in training, belonged to the duke of wellington's regiment. one of the victims was private percy gibson clements, who lives with his parents at 52 milbank road, west hartlepool. he was aged 18 1/2 years and had been on the army only since august, 1944. he attended brougham school, west hartlepool, and before joining the army worked as a slinger with the south durham steel & iron company. his brother in law is serving with the b.l.a. in belgium. others who were drowned were:
    l/corpl m fedlieb, eccleshall road, sheffield.
    pte k lee, north hall avenue, thackley, bradford.
    pte j wilson, croft street, newcastle.
    pte n ashton, temple street, castleford.
    pte e king, square road, walsden, todmorden.
    pte r h wintringham, clarence street, york.
    pte m m peddalty, copeland road, bishop auckland.
    pte a yates, newton street, ferrryhill.
    pte alex leighton, queenscroft terrace, annfield plain.
     
  5. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Trafford Leigh-Malloy. And Patton, post war on occupation.


    Dave
     
  6. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    Sgt A L. Turnell Flight Engineer. Walked into a wind milling propeller of Liberator V G/120 after returning to RAF Ballykelly from an anti-submarine patrol. 1 October 1944

    CWGC :: Casualty Details
     
  7. sketch

    sketch Member

  8. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

  9. CL1

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

    The Necchi Family

    NECCHI, MAFALDA

    Rank:
    Civilian
    Date of Death:
    13/10/1940
    Age:
    15
    Regiment/Service:
    Civilian War Dead

    Reporting Authority
    WOOD GREEN, MUNICIPAL BOROUGH
    Additional Information:
    of 50 Oakley Road, Islington. Daughter of Mark John and Rose Necchi. Died at Tube Station, Bounds Green Road.

    NECCHI, MARK JOHN

    Rank:
    Civilian
    Date of Death:
    13/10/1940
    Age:
    41
    Regiment/Service:
    Civilian War Dead

    Reporting Authority
    WOOD GREEN, MUNICIPAL BOROUGH
    Additional Information:
    of 50 Oakley Road, Islington. Husband of Rose Necchi. Died at Tube Station, Bounds Green Road.

    NECCHI, GIULIO

    Rank:
    Civilian
    Date of Death:
    13/10/1940
    Age:
    9
    Regiment/Service:
    Civilian War Dead

    Reporting Authority
    WOOD GREEN, MUNICIPAL BOROUGH
    Additional Information:
    of 50 Oakley Road, Islington. Son of Mark John and Rose Necchi. Died at Tube Station, Bounds Green Road.

    NECCHI, ROSE

    Rank:
    Civilian
    Date of Death:
    13/10/1940
    Age:
    40
    Regiment/Service:
    Civilian War Dead

    Reporting Authority
    WOOD GREEN, MUNICIPAL BOROUGH
    Additional Information:
    of 50 Oakley Road, Islington. Wife of Mark John Necchi. Died at Tube Station, Bounds Green Road.

    Bounds Green Blitz attack commemorated in exhibition (From Enfield Independent)
     

    Attached Files:

  10. Oldman

    Oldman Very Senior Member

    The following is from Yorksview and relates to Burley in Wharfedale, Yorkshire

    A tragedy struck the village many years ago. I learnt about this when I was in Bradford's Central Library reading old newspaper accounts of D-Day 1944. What I read on page three in the Bradford Telegraph & Argus, June 15th 1944, saddened me deeply. All the men were Canadians.

    Nineteen Out of 21 Soldiers Killed in Wharfedale Crash
    Nineteen out of 21 soldiers were killed at Burley-in-Wharfedale early to-day when an Army lorry, in which they were travelling, crashed into a house on failing to take a sharp bend in the road.

    The canvas-topped lorry was coming from Ilkley, and is said to have contained the members of a picket and a mixed party of soldiers. Instead of taking the bend in the main road at the Malt Shovel Hotel, the lorry appears to have gone almost straight forward and hit the house, 26, Main Street, the home of Miss Florence Roe.

    DANGEROUS CORNER

    It turned on to its side. Most of the men were found to be suffering from head injuries. When neighbours, hearing the crash, turned out to give assistance, they found that many of the men were still inside the lorry. Four men were still alive, and were taken to a wardens' post nearby, but two of them died there. The other two were taken to hospital in a serious condition. One of these is said to have been the driver of the lorry.

    First-aid ambulances and medical assistance were secured from the surrounding district. One man who came through Burley soon after the accident, said: 'There were bodies and blood all over the place.'

    Apart from a broken fall-pipe and scratches on the wall and door, the damage to the house is not so much as might have been expected. So far as can be ascertained there does not appear to have been anyone in the immediate vicinity who actually saw the accident.
    [​IMG]
    Scene of the tragedy, notice memorial on post.
    The corner has been the scene of many previous motor-accidents, but never one so serious as this.

    Miss Roe, who lives alone in the house hit by the lorry, remained in bed.

    Graphic stories were told by neighbours who were on the scene shortly afterwards. Two of them were Mrs. Madelline Ewan, of 5 Woodhouse Lane, and Mrs. Jessie Nelson who worked like heroines to succour the men.

    The lorry was canvas-covered, the canvas being held up by iron bars. and when the lorry struck the house and overturned these iron struts collapsed and pierced the heads and bodies of the men.

    The sight was a ghastly one, and Mrs. Ewan told a 'Telegraph and Argus' reporter it was 'like a 'plane crash.' 'I went into the street,' she said, 'and met a soldier of the same unit who said he had been signalling the lorry to stop, as he was walking in the road, and it seemed to be slowing down when it struck the house side. He was nearly trapped.'

    HELD UP IRON BARS

    Mrs. Ewan said Mrs. Nelson held up the iron bars with her own body while she (Mrs. Ewan) attempted to get the trapped men out. 'One of them died in my arms,' she said. 'We persisted in getting the trapped men out until Mr. Bill Clark, of Horsfall Terrace, arrived on the scene, and he, with superhuman strength held up the top iron bar which formed the main support of the canvas. Most of the men were killed outright.'

    The next door neighbour to Miss Roe, a Mrs. Brear, brought water to bathe the men, and she was present when the doctor arrived to inspect the bodies.
    [​IMG]
    Names of the Soldiers who died, final toll twenty (click to enlarge)
    A few days after my visit to the library I visited Burley and got talking to a local woman. She told me she'd lived in the village all her life, she was a young girl at the time of the tragedy and she remembers it well. I was shown the cottage where the accident happened and also a plaque placed by Burley Council in 1997. I was told that a descendent of one of the soldiers came to the village not long ago. If you're ever travelling through Burley-in-Wharfedale, please keep these men in your thoughts.
     
  11. STAN50

    STAN50 Senior Member

    On the 3rd March 1943 civilians seeking shelter at the then incomplete underground station at Bethnal Green died in a tragic accident.

    In a nearby park experimental defence rockets were sent up. This was misinterpreted as German raiders delivering their bomb on East London.

    Whilst trying to get below ground a woman slipped and fell at the bottom of the first staircase. This reslulted in the following people falling on top of each other and in just a few minutes 173 people died from suffocation and crush injuries. Many of these were women and children.

    Full story here:The Full Story

    For many years only a small plaque has existed above the staircase to mark the tragedy. In recent years there has beeen a concerted effort to fund and build a decent memorial to those who lost thier lives.

    Bethnal Green Tube Disaster Memorial - YouTube

    BETHNAL GREEN 2011.3.6. Remembering the 1943 Tube Disaster - YouTube

    I have a personal interest in this tragedy as my late grandfather was sent there as a member of the Home Guard to remove the dead. My mother can still recall how distressed he was for sometime afterwards.
     
  12. ethan

    ethan Member

    There were indeed so many ways to get killed-
    As I believe I said in my other thread, of the 28 'old boys' from my school who lost their lives in WW2, at least 12 died accidentally- mostly plane crashes, but one guy fell from a hotel window during a 'celebration'. One more is simply listed as 'died at home' in 1946, two died as POW's of the Japanese, one RAF guy died on a landing craft at Anzio, still working on a couple more.
     
  13. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    I was doing some checking for AJEX on this and another thread when I came again on this posting by Verrieres on comment #4

    Just look at the ages of these ten boys who lost their lives so tragically on this training exercise :(

    Guyzance
    Ten soldiers serving with the 10th Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) and The Durham Light Infantry, were tragically swept to their deaths during a river crossing exercise on the river Coquet at Guyzance in Northumberland. Despite warnings from locals about the risks of entering the river when in flood, the exercise went ahead, with the soldiers entering the river one mile upstream of the old Guyzance Ironworks weir. Losing control of their craft they were rapidly swept downstream, overturning at the weir. Sadly due to the weight of their equipment and the force of the river the men were unable to save themselves. All were aged 18

    Guyzance Tragedy, 17th January 1945.

    Ten remembered Guyzance memorial
    L-Cpl Mark Fredlieb 18, 14444809 Duke of Wellingtons Regt of Sheffield
    Pte Norman Ashton 18, 14828171 Duke of Wellingtons Regt of Castleford
    Pte Percy Clements 18, 14817616 DLI of West Hartlepool
    Pte Edwin King 14828249 DLI 18, of Todmorden
    Pte Kenneth Lee 18, 14828252 DLI of Bradford
    Pte Alexander Leighton 18, 14826807 DLI of Annfield Plain,Co Durham
    Pte Maurice Peddelty 14826818 DLI 18, of Evenwood, County Durham
    Pte John Wilson 18 14825982 DLI,of Newcastle
    Pte Ronald "Bud" Winteringham 18, 14768404 DLI of York
    Pte Alfred Yates 18, 14826930 DLI of Dean Bank, Ferryhill,Co Durham
    __________________
    Home - DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY 1920-1946


    Lest we forget !

    Ron
     
  14. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Canberra (Australia) Air Disaster

    Canberra air disaster, 13th August 1940


    During World War II the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) recorded hundreds of air crashes, in operational, training and transport flights. On 13 August 1940 one particular accident had wide-reaching effects for Australia and its allies. On that day a Lockheed Hudson crashed into a hill near the Canberra aerodrome. The crew and all six passengers lost their lives. The passengers included three Federal Ministers and the Chief of the General Staff.


    1940 Canberra air disaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     
  15. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    One of my father's friends died in Germany post hostilities when the armoured car he was standing up in overturned, cutting him in half.

    Dad witnessed how another man was killed in Normandy, getting into a TCL - someone already seated dropped their weapon which accidentally discharged.

    One officer attached to armd bn, whilst taking cover in a ditch was run over by one of their own tanks, crushing his feet. He survived.

    One time during a brief lull Dad was on his way to their RAP when he passed Welsh Guards on a break at roadside, an abandoned 88mm by the roadside opposite pointing across the road, at the parked up TCLs. Men were resting in the vehicles and on the verge. On his return he found ambulances and mayhem. Somehow the gun had fired, destroying at least one TCL and killing and wounding many men.
     
  16. Melville_Jacoby_Story

    Melville_Jacoby_Story Junior Member

    As I mentioned in my introductory post to this forum, a freak airplane accident killed Brigadier General Harold H. George and 2nd Lt. Robert Jasper, as well as Melville Jacoby, my cousin twice-removed. Jacoby was a foreign correspondent who'd written for Time, Life, the UPI and a number of other publications. At the time of his death he'd just arrived in Australia after a four-month journey through the Philippines with a small boat full of other reporters, including his wife, after they escaped Manila.

    DaveB pointed out a good article about the crash. Apparently a tire blew on a P-40 just after George, Jasper and Jacoby arrived at the airfield, where the general was going to give Jacoby a tour of the allied air forces (Jacoby had of course seen how under-resourced the forces in the Philippines were). The plane veered out of control and crashed into the landing party. Jacoby, just 25 years old, was killed instantly. George died later at the hospital.

    Apparently the accident really destroyed the confidence of the P-40 pilot, which doesn't surprise me.

    I'm going to be telling Mel's story in a book and today happens to be my last day to raise money for that project on Kickstarter, should any of you be inclilned to support it ;). I'm sure I'll be here on the forum more often as I raise money for it.
     
  17. gpo son

    gpo son Senior Member

    I dont know if falls into accidents and tragidies, however after glancing through "Canada at war" memorial page World War II Canadian Dead - Canada at War it appears to be fairly consistent that large numbers of men died while stationed in Engaland waiting to go into combat some Battalions as any as 20 men appear to have died from undisclosed causes between 1939 and the time they went into action. Some appear to have been sent home for health reasons and subsequently died but most are buried at Brookwood cemetary.
     
  18. Samgreen

    Samgreen Junior Member

    My grandfather was a Bombardier in the 69 (the Denbighshire Yeomanry) Medium Regt. He was apparently run over by a gun in Salerno (or near there by) in April 1944.
     
  19. Rav4

    Rav4 Senior Member

    On the 3rd March 1943 civilians seeking shelter at the then incomplete underground station at Bethnal Green died in a tragic accident.

    In a nearby park experimental defence rockets were sent up. This was misinterpreted as German raiders delivering their bomb on East London.

    Whilst trying to get below ground a woman slipped and fell at the bottom of the first staircase. This reslulted in the following people falling on top of each other and in just a few minutes 173 people died from suffocation and crush injuries. Many of these were women and children.

    Full story here:The Full Story

    For many years only a small plaque has existed above the staircase to mark the tragedy. In recent years there has beeen a concerted effort to fund and build a decent memorial to those who lost thier lives.

    Bethnal Green Tube Disaster Memorial - YouTube

    BETHNAL GREEN 2011.3.6. Remembering the 1943 Tube Disaster - YouTube

    I have a personal interest in this tragedy as my late grandfather was sent there as a member of the Home Guard to remove the dead. My mother can still recall how distressed he was for sometime afterwards.

    I seem to remember that there was a similar accident during an air raid on Luton ( I think) where many people were killed entering a shelter.
     
  20. saintconor

    saintconor Senior Member

    image.png Playing football whilst stationed in N.Ireland
     

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