John Lochans Royal Engineers Sapper Died 1946

I am looking for any information on my grand father John Lochans who was a sapper in the Royal Engineers and was killed on 7/12/46 aged 27.

His number was 2151664

I know his grave is in Airbles Road Cemetery, Motherwell but know very little about him

Any information, photos etc would be most appreciated

Thanks for taking the time to read my post

 

Sadly his entry on CWGC does not list the unit he was with.

Casualty

If you can ID the Company he served with the units war diary may record the cause of his death.

Welcome to the forum by the way.

Regards
Andy

 

welcome to the forum

 

Thanks Andy. All I have is the photo of the gravestone and this is where I got my information from. Not sure where to look from here as I cant find any details on him so far.

 

another casualty Royal Engineer that day


016 Link SOUTER GW 1912895 - 07/12/1946 ROYAL ENGINEERS

 

Karen,

You can apply for a copy of his service records via the link below:
Army Personnel Centre - British Army Website

I don't think you will be able to narrow down your search without them

 

It looks like Lochans & Souter were both buried in their home towns, so even if they were killed in the same incident there is no way of knowing where it occured.

I would try the local library (Motherwell area) to see if they have anything in their local history area, or if they hold copies (hardcopy or microfilm) of newspapers of that era covering the local area.

By late 1946 you would have to hope that any local boy being brought home for burial following his death in uniform would make the local papers, even just in the personal columns if not as a news article.

Applying for his service file is definitely a good idea, but I believe it takes a few months to arrive. While you are waiting I would try the library / newspapers approach.

Good luck and don't forget to post back on here if / when you find out anything.


Dave

PS - apparently they have a great heritage centre in Motherwell - Motherwell Heritage Centre

 

Karen,

For them to be buried in the UK they would almost definately have been killed in the UK (Bodies were not repatriated during WW2) and their death was most likely a traffic accident or training related incident. Being that it happened just after WW2 and in the UK I'm 99.9% sure the answer will be in the units war diary assuming one exists.

Here is a good example that sadly appears to have been ignored in the main by the forum:

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/royal-engineers/33759-royal-engineers-560-field-coy.html

This incident was recorded in the units war diary. Home Forces diaries can be quite detailed regarding incidents as they don't have much else to report.

Cheers
Andy