ATS Casualty on 18/19 March 1945

Nick, your Rita seems to be somewhat elusive and it hasn’t been possible (yet) to come up with someone who matches all of Alfred’s recollections – by the way have you his full name in case that provides any help?

For what it is worth I have found the following Probate record:

Kochinsky, Rachel, otherwise Rachel Rita of 33 Hughes-mansions Vallance-road Whitechapel London E1, spinster, who is believed to have been killed through war operations on 27 March 1945 and whose dead body was found on 27 March 1945.

Similar records exists for two other family members, who all died under the same circumstances, the others are Debra and Joseph.

There are four corresponding death records Q1 1945 Stepney:

Kochinsky
Alexander 21 (born c1924, and presumably left no will)
Debra 58 (c1887)
Joseph 61 (c1884)
Rachael 22 (c1923)

Your original post mentioned many casualties so presumably a major incident, interestingly the Daily Mirror of 27 April 1945 has a report on the 1,050 V2 rockets that fell between 8 September 1944 and 27 March 1945. The report goes on to say ‘in April one of five blocks of flats, Hughes Mansions, Stepney, was hit, reducing it to rubble and killing 133’. It must be highly probable, despite the date discrepancy, that this is how the family died.

TD’s link to the V2 site has a couple of photos.

OK, I admit that the name doesn’t sound very Scottish and it wasn’t a school but it is a Rita!

 

Don't see any V2s landed in those roads, however 2 landed about half mile south of Hallsville school nr roundabout on tidal basin road.

We know Rita did not die instantly, so I am thinking that a V2, throws a lot of Debris a long way. so it is possible that it was this V2.

Now whether they were actually billeted in Hallsville school is a different matter as it appears that there was not much left of it after the 1940 bombing.

But this story may be why there was an Army presence there.

http://www.eastlondonhistory.co.uk/second-world-war-bombing-raid-south-hallsville-school/

I think now a search of West Ham library, council records etc. There might be a chance to find Rita's surname.

 

There was only one Rita born in Dundee City in 1925, 22 throughout Scotland for that year.

You could purchase credits to view the surname at the website Scotlandspeople (£7 for 30 credits). Unfortunately you will be unable to view the register to get her parents details or to verify that date of birth. It's only open up to 1915 at the moment. But hopefully it will give you the surname so we can verify the death details in England at Ancestry.

Looking at the counties that border Dundee, there were no Rita's born in Perth, one in Fife and 3 born in Angus.

 

Hello again,
Your efforts are continually astounding me!
Alfred's surname was BURLEY and he received 2 weeks compassionate leave from the Army as a result of these tragic circumstances. I can't lay my hands on his service number at the moment but I'll supply this as well if it helps.
Contacting the West Ham Council seems to be a good way forward and so I'll take this line of enquiry up with them.
We did wonder whether 'Rita' was a nickname which obviously would muddy the water. However, we inherited a bible which was given to Alfred by Rita sometime in 1944 with a written dedication to him confirming their love. The dedication was signed off as 'Rita'.
Nick.

 

Tony56 - not sure it can be that Rita as it states "her body was found" whereas Nicks relation stayed with her during her last 50 + hours of life.

Nick - it just seems odd at present that we cannot tie down the spot where the incident happened. It also seems odd that if a V2 struck at night in an area where ATS were billeted alongside their male counterparts in an area such as Silvertown that many more deaths (including local civilians) would have happened and have been recorded at the exact time of the incident. It is only on the 27th March that the last V2 lands in the UK and there appear from records not that many to have struck in the whole of March.

Is there anything else in the bible? - sometimes odd pieces of paper fall out etc that may hold clues

Do you have you Alfreds service records, as they may lead us to his units war diaries which in turn may lead us to the location he was based at in March 1945.
We need to try and find some concrete information to work from or to.

TD

 

Hi TD,
No, nothing in the bible and I've not been unable to trace his service number or pay book either.
Nothing of this nature seems to have survived other than some photographs of his unit in various locations as given below. His occupation with the RASC was as a 'tradesman' - possibly a clerk if I remember correctly. Alfred was born on 4 Sept. 1925 in Reading, Berks.

Another and closer examination of his letter reveals the following:

Training with Norwich CSD (?) in 1944. To London area later the same year at the same time as Rita's ATS unit.
A few weeks after the death of Rita, Alfred's unit was moved to Tilbury and embarked for Belgium.
A later posting was to Stavanger, Norway. Demob was in '46 from Norway, passage back to Thetford, but then another posting occurred to Vienna with the British Embassy. However, this latter was cancelled at the last minute - all occurred n April 1946. By some cruel twist Alfred's demob number was 57 - something he was hardly likely to forget.

I have examined the surviving photographs which include Alfred and can add the following info as recorded on the reverse of a few:

'Hereford Section 40 No.1 P.D.C Bradbury Lines Hereford 1943'
'27 Roodestraat, Antwerp 1 May 1945' The photograph is signed by six of the group of eleven.
'Stavanger 1945 202 D.I.D. R.A.S.C. '
'MO1 (or I, I can't tell which) RASC Rest Camp Norway 8 July 1945'

In Antwerp Alfred seems to have struck up a lasting acquaintance with a certain Frank Billingham, a corporal, who appears in most of the Antwerp and Stavanger pictures. After the war Frank's address at Carshalton is quoted by Alfred as being 'his second home'. Probably Frank would have known far more about Rita than Alfred's own family.
What a tragic story this is. Alfred's letter concluded with "I am sure that I paid the highest price I could pay for my war with Germany. For me at the time it was the end of my world, no-one could ever replace Rita. You didn't have to be in the front line to suffer ".

I hope the above has some bearing, but additionally I would welcome a translation of 'CSD', 'D.I.D' and 'M.O1' (or I) for my own understanding of what Alfred's Army career comprised.

Many, many thanks,

Nick.

 

Nick

To obtain his service records you do not need his service number (I believe) as you have his date of birth, what you will need though is a copy death certificate still worth obtaining as the details may be crucial in your quest

TD

edited to add:
If you have need of the info:
Death details
Name: Alfred John Burley
Birth Date: 4 Sep 1925
Date of Registration: Jan 1993
Age at Death: 67
Registration district: Reading and Wokingham
Inferred County: Berkshire
Register Number: C34A
District and Subdistrict: 3201C
Entry Number: 129

 

I have had a thought! A short while ago I had an ATS lady commemorated on Brookwood memorial, no known grave, however a colleague found a grave with the same name and initials. Details from the Brookwood lady’s Service Record and the D.C. of the grave lady confirmed that they were the same person. It appears that the lady died at home while on compassionate leave and was buried privately by the family. Why C.W.G.C. did not pick this up, having recorded the same date of death surprises me?

Therefore, I wonder if ‘RITA’ who was apparently seriously injured and was taken to a temporary hospital where she died and her fiancé; who was present when she died; took control of the situation and had her privately buried with no notification to C.W.G.C.

A copy of his War Service Record might throw up a family contact who may have details of her burial. Just a thought; but in my case above solved the problem.

Tony

P.S, Just sen previous post - she could possibly be buried in the same graveas her unmarried fiance

 

Nick.

C.S.D Civil Service Department.

Stavanger 1945 202 D.I.D.(Detail Issue Depot) R.A.S.C.

M.O. Medical Officer, or Military Operations.

So possible

Military Operation 1, RASC Rest Camp Norway 8 July 1945.

It may seem odd that a soldier is sent for training in Civil service work.
But when you look at the big picture it falls into place, basically the RASC looks after the frontline soldiers needs. so in late 44 it was fairly certain that the allies would win. They would then be an occupation Army and would need men with knowledge of how civil services worked, to liaison with the civil authorities in whatever country they were in. Alfred's record bears this out first in Antwerp then to Norway.

Lieutenant-Colonel Michael St. John Packe.
Lieutenant-Colonel Packe took over command of the Divisional RASC in November 1943 and was responsible for the reorganisation on the present airborne War Establishment. ===
On 6th May 1945 the Division was given 48 hours notice to move to Norway emplaning from aerodromes in Southern, Eastern and Northern Commands and landing in Oslo and Stavanger.
http://www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/michael_packe.htm

Still looking for Rita.

 

Thank you so very much everybody and to RCG for translations!
Rita remains a mystery.
I can definitely say Alfred was buried unaccompanied in his own grave because I was there!
As to the suggestion that there was a private, unrecorded (to the CWGC at least) burial; although this is obviously a possibility, in Alfred's case I think it unlikely given
that he was a young private soldier on basic pay and from a family background of modest means. Plus there is nothing within the family records even hinting at such a transaction.
But (and there always is one!) nothing can be ruled out lacking any hard and fast evidence proving matters one way or another.
Many thanks again. I haven't given up hope quite yet!
Nick.

 

Hi Nick

Finally found a document that I was looking for:

Casualties of the AUXILIARY TERRITORIAL SERVICE
From the Database of The Commonwealth War Graves
Commission

http://www.atsremembered.org.uk/CWGCpdf.pdf

searching for the name and approx dates results in ...... I'm afraid not a lot - this was by doing a Control&F search separately on both Rita and March 1945.
Maybe I'm missing something


TD

 

Hi TD,
Many thanks for your considerable efforts.
Yes, I've tried this. I've interrogated the file by 'Rita', D.O.B., 'Dundee' and by various dates, but nothing dropped from the tree.
I'm really left with contacting the local council over the date of the 'explosion' and any school buildings which were destroyed around this time to approach Rita's identity from that angle.
Plus any Dundee newspaper records which may point towards an ATS being remembered by a family at around this time.
Failing these approaches I fear I'm not going to progress this any further.
Nick.

 

No don't think you have missed anything TD.
Having scrolled through the whole document I did notice this one, same day, but whether same incident don't know.

SHEPHERD, Private, EVA JANE, W/146248. Auxiliary Territorial Service. 18th March 1945. Age 24. Daughter of Richard and Sarah Shepherd, of West Melton. Sec. C. Grave 684.

Did also notice a couple of other things unrelated to the search for Rita, but feel should be mentioned.

Must have be devastating for the parents.

McNAB, Private, ANNE, W/181485. Auxiliary Territorial Service. 2nd March 1944. Age 25. Daughter of Edward McNab and of Helen McNab (nee Hamilton), of Kildonan. Plot 6. Joint grave 296.

McNAB, Private, FLORA HENDRY, W/177784. Auxiliary Territorial Service attd. 163 (M) H.A.A. Regt. Royal Artillery. 21st April 1945. Age 23. Daughter of Edward McNab and of Helen McNab (nee Hamil-ton), of Kildonan. Plot 6. Joint grave 296.

Then I noticed a lot of ATS on the Brookwood Memorial for Oct 4th 1945.

The Lancaster PA278 disappearance involved Avro Lancaster Mk.I PA278, "F for Freddie", operated by No. 103 Squadron RAF (103 Sqn) of Bomber Command just after the end of the Second World War.

It disappeared over the Mediterranean, probably near Corsica, on 4 October 1945 with its crew of 6 airmen and 19 female service personnel - the worst loss of female British and Commonwealth service personnel from the Second World War II to date

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster_PA278_disappearance

 

I know now.

Eva Jane Shepherd - W/146248

Eva Jane Shepherd was born in Rotherham in the second quarter of 1921, to miner Richard Shepherd and his wife of sixteen years Sarah (nee Barker). The family lived at 33 Firth Road, West Melton.
Eva joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, service number W/146248. She died in hospital in Yorkshire, and her death registered in Rotherham. Eva Jane Shepherd was 24 years old and was buried in Brampton Bierlow (Christ Church) Churchyard.

 

Hi Nick,

Here's the link to the website that will give you names of the Rita's born in 1925 in Scotland http://scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ As previously mentioned there was only one born in the Dundee area in 1925 out of the 22 born in the whole of Scotland. I wouldn't waste your credit just opening the one entry, I'd use the one credit to list all 22 Rita's to check those surnames at CWGC or Ancestry. Best of luck with your research.

 

The search may need to be widened to include 1926 - post 1 states 19 years old in 1945 - so more likely born 1926

TD

 

TD, I had a look at the years either side of the DOB given by Nick in post#17.

In 1924 there were 24 Rita's born, but none in the Dundee District. In 1926 there were 17 born, but only one born in Dundee. So only two Dundee Rita's born 1925-1926. My concern is she may have resided in Dundee prior to the war, but been born elsewhere. But thankfully her first name is quite rare for those years. So the index pages listing all Rita's born in Scotland should be easy enough to cross reference with Ancestry once we obtain the surnames. We're assuming her first name is Rita. Even if Rita maybe be a middle name, I think Scotlandspeople will list it amongst the numbers I've identified already. I think it's worth a shot. What do you think Nick?

 

Thanks very much chaps. Apologies for the delay in coming back to you on this.
I agree it's worth pursuing and will take this further.
I'll keep you posted as to how things work out.
Nick.