Not wanting to hijack the Canadian thread (besides what I have already managed by leading off on a tangent) I thought I would initiate a thread of my own. Using Geoff's (Wonderful) Search Engine I came across a couple of Aussie soldiers also buried "far from home" at the Prague War Cemetery. I wonder if their grave photos are available...... SAYWELL LP NX6461 AIF HQ 6TH DIV 08/05/1945 AUSTRALIAN ARMY SERVICE CORPS Plot IV. C. 2 Private SAYWELL, Lawrence Phillip - Son of Montague Joseph and Gertrude Harriette Saywell, of Double Bay, New South Wales, Australia The ww2roll shows enlistment 7 November 1939 / Unit - 17 Infantry Brigade AWM ROH Cause of death: Murdered His Roll of Honour circular lists place of burial as Minetin (Miretin ?) His NAA file is available to be read online and states that death was caused by bullet wound to the head inflicted by a retreating German soldier - killed on Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) He became a POW in Greece / Crete in April 1941 WILLIAMS WJ NX45986 AIF 2/3 FD COY 21/03/1945 ROYAL AUSTRALIAN ENGINEERS Plot II. E. 9 Sapper WILLIAMS, William Johnson - Son of William James and Elizabeth Ann Williams, of New Lambton, New South Wales, Australia The ww2roll shows enlistment 1 July 1940 / Unit - 2/3rd Field Company RAE AWM ROH Cause of death: Illness His Roll of Honour circular lists place of burial as Marianbad, Germany His NAA file is available to be read online and contains a couple of his enlistment photos plus his Kreigie registration form with photo (I had never seen one of these forms before). He became a POW when his convoy was ambushed between Giovanni, Berta & Mertarba on night 6/7 April 1941 (that’s the way I’m reading the handwritten place names) British Legation Berne reported that he had died of disease, physical exhaustion following march from Eastern Germany.
From the AWM photo collection (one of many photos of the memorial, plus photos of Saywell inside a POW camp and later with the other escapees - the collection also houses his medal set): Miretin, Czechoslovakia. September 1945. The memorial erected in honour of Private Lawrence Phillip Saywell, 17th Brigade Company, Australian Army Service Corps, by the "grateful inhabitants of the village of Miretin". This memorial was erected five months after Private Saywell was murdered - shot in the head by a German SS Patrol on 8 May 1945 (VE Day). Just to the right of the memorial, marked with an x, is where the murder took place. Private Saywell is buried in the Evangelical Cemetery in Miretin. The villagers of Miretin sheltered Private Saywell, 26403 Private Sydney O. C. (Mac) Kerkham of New Zealand and two Russians after they escaped from Kommando E7010 (a prison camp in Bohemia). In return Saywell, Kerkham and the Russians offered to assist the Czech partisans in their sabotage operations. In November 1945 the President of the Czechoslovak Republic awarded Private Saywell the Czechoslovak Military Cross for his "brave and eminent services to our State in the battle for liberation".
If no-one else is fascinated by this, then at least I am. The more I read the more interesting the whole story becomes... Another extract from the description of his medal set at the AWM - He and a New Zealand fellow prisoner, Sydney 'Mac' Kerkham, made at least two unsuccessful escape attempts. They were finally successful in January 1945 when the Germans ordered the evacuation of prisoner of war camps in the face of the approach of Soviet Russian forces. In the confusion Saywell and Kerkham escaped from a camp at Pardubice, in what is now the Czech Republic, and found refuge with families near the village of Zderaz. Slovenian and Czech partisan groups in the area, supplied and encouraged by Soviet forces, harried the Germans, who in turn conducted anti-partisan operations around Zderaz. Although sometimes close to discovery, Saywell and Kerkham remained hidden. In the first week of May a major national uprising against the Germans flared up in Czech lands and the German army retreated west. Hearing of this, Saywell and Kerkham came out of hiding and made their way to Miretin, where, on 8 May, the official date of the end of the war in Europe, they encountered a confrontation between a retreating German column and a Soviet-Czech partisan group which had taken about thirty German officers as hostages in the local school. Saywell offered his services as an interpreter and succeeded in getting the officers released and disarmed. For reasons that are not clear he was shot and killed by an unknown German soldier shortly afterwards. His body lay in state in the village school until 10 May, when he was buried in the local cemetery. Later in 1945 the villagers erected a headstone on his grave and a stone memorial at the actual site of his death. In November 1945 he was posthumously awarded the Czechoslovakian Military Cross. In 2005 a further posthumous award of the Meritorious Cross was made by the Czech Republic. Although Lawrence Saywell's remains were transferred to the Prague War Cemetery after it had been built in 1949, his death is still commemorated at Miretin every year, when a ceremonial procession takes place between the site of his original grave and his memorial stone.
DaveB, You might try sending a PM to "Erding". He was the one that lead me to the Olsany Cemetery which houses the CWGC section.
Happy to bump an old thread Yesterday I took a drive out to Miřetín to search for the marker , it's not marked on any map that I can find, so shortly I will add it to google maps. I talked to a local farmer who knew what I was talking about straight away, so that was great, it actually wasn't hard to find, straight off the "main road" into Miřetín which correlates with the story, but easy to miss if you didn't know it was there. On the note of "his death is still commemorated at Miretin every year, when a ceremonial procession takes place between the site of his original grave and his memorial stone." I was unable to confirm this, I forgot to ask the local and maybe my Czech is not good enough for such a question but I'll try again some day. Also - I forgot to search for the "X" marker where he was shot, this is actually a nice excuse to visit the area again. The monument appears to be in excellent condition and has a very information sign next to it in Czech and English The monument is located at 49.807949,16.050146
According to the text on the monument, he was involved with the partizan group Vpřed who operated in the area. "The bachelor thesis presents the Partisan Movement in the region of Svratka from 1944 to 1945. The main goal of the thesis is introduce the comprehensive overview of partisans’ units, their activities and involvement in the May Uprising in 1945. The whole thesis is divided into five chapters. Introduction describes the region of Svratka and the beginnings of resistance movement. In the second chapter there is a description of partisans’ units, whose work was closely related to this region. The following chapter describes partisan’s unit Vpřed, because the center of its work was Svratka. The fourth chapter focuses on cooperation of partisans’ units during the May Uprising. The last chapter is devoted to the citizens of Svratka, who were actively engaged in resistance activities. " More about Vpřed from Charles University at Partyzánský odboj na Svratecku v letech 1944-1945 The text on the monument states "The Australian ambassador to Poland and Preston Saywell - brother of Lawence Saywell visited Prosec and Miretin in 2005 and placed the flowers on both the grave and the memorial of Private Saywell" This to me reads like there could still be a grave in Prosec? I will take a look sometime.
A quick snapshot from the proceedings at today's Memorial Service for Commonwealth and ANZAC soldiers buried in Prague Olsany Cemetary.
Thanks for all of this DG I am always grateful to see efforts to remember those of my countrymen who died so far from home.
DaveB anytime! If you have any ideas or leads to follow up in Czech Republic just let me know ( I'm also Australian, incase there was some confusion )
Not WW2 but there is a lonely British WW1 burial at Prague (Olsany) Cemetery in the Czech Republic Casualty
I didn't realise fully that besides the 2 Aussies in Prague War cemetery there are 228 other WW2 burials from all over the Commonwealth (& Poland) - mainly army so I would presume also died while PoWs Results
