Hi everyone, I am researching :- Leading Aircraftman CWGC MCMANUS, JOHN ARTHUR Service Number 1522972 Died 02/12/1945 Aged 31 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Son of Patrick and Elizabeth McManus, of Holywell, Flintshire. INSCRIPTION -GIVE HIM ETERNAL REST, O LORD; AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON HIM. R.I.P. Buried at MADRAS WAR CEMETERY, CHENNAI and because there is no Sqn No. or any clue to why he was in India, I am wondering if he had been in the fall of Singapore when the Japanese took it. He also died quite a time after the war ended. The British armed forces and overseas deaths and burials Transcription does give the Unit or Regiment as 7055 SE. Source Gro War Death R.A.F. All Ranks (1939 To 1948) Archive reference RAFA Volume 10 War Second World War, 1939-1945 Record set British Armed Forces And Overseas Deaths And Burials First name(s) John A Sex Male Last name McManus Death year 1945 Birth year - Service number 1522972 Rank Leading Aircraftman Unit or regiment 7055 SE Any help would be appreciated. Kind regards, Mavis Williams
Hi Mavis No doubt you will have this memorial - Connah's Quay & <title>Connah's Quay I saw this - Casualties 1-16 Dec 1945 - rafweb.org www.rafweb.org/Members Pages/Casualties/1940s/1945/Casualties_1945... McMANUS, JOHN ARTHUR (1522972); age 31 RAFVR. LAC. ... BERNARD ARTHUR JOHN ... Casualties 17 Dec 1945. This page was ... But you need to log in, I don't know if it would have anything more. The only other thing would be to apply for his service record and see what they say. regards Robert
Robert Mavis is the researcher for all those on Connahs Quay Memorial, she has been finding out with the help of this forum many if not all those listed on the memorial Connahs Quay and Shotton War Memorial Mavis Williams, a resident of Aston but a native of Connah’s Quay has set herself the task of researching ..................... TD
Hi Mavis, good to see you posting again Others more learned than I will be able to help with RAF casualties, but I believe "general" ground crew were more often attached to the airfield and "just" serviced the aircraft operated by various Squadrons as and when they were based there. It's just possible he was a freed PoW but most of them were fed to regain health before being taken back to the UK for demob - they'd suffered enough. My best guess would be a tropical disease, there isn't a grouping of deaths in early December and perhaps there was a hospital nearby. The CWGC information says MADRAS WAR CEMETERY was created to receive Second World War graves from many civil and cantonment cemeteries in the south and east of India where their permanent maintenance could not be assured. The cemetery contains 856 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War. so he may have been brought from elsewhere, the graves around him are from 1943 onwards, no chronology.
His name was published as a Died on Active Service (DOAS) in this Flight magazine a/c | sgt | fit | 1946 | 1606 | Flight Archive If he were a recuperating POW I think (probably) he would most likely appear with unit identity such as FE, simply for Far East. I cannot see a surviving ORB in the discovery database.
Thank you all so much again, a wealth of knowledge on this Forum, where would I have been without you all. Many thanks again, Regards, Mavis
Wouldnt 7055 SE mean 7055 Servicing Echelon? aka the servicing echelon of 55 Squadron? the problem here is 55 Squadron was not in India. So was he posted from 7055 SE before his death in India?
Theres some explanation of SE's on this RAFC thread Ground service, support, and base units And probably a lot more there too. It would tell me not to assume 7055 SE had anything to do with 55 Sqn.
Thank you Jagan, dp_burke for this added information, I will pursue it and also Kevin and TD for my welcome back, plus also Robert, sorry, my message was short last night and I didn't reply properly. Much appreciate the cutting dp_burke, I can add this to his page when his story is put online. Kindest regards to all, Mavis
There's a possible link to a John McManus in 1939 Register John McManus, school teacher, born 14 September 1891, lodging at 37 Millbank Road, Rhyl, with a Minnie Weston and son Herbert. Shown as married but not with her at that address, so son John Arthur might be with her elsewhere, perhaps in Connahs Quay area. Might be a red herring, but that's the closest in Flintshire I could find.
Apologies for this, sorry, I have researched so many and usually I copy and paste all my inquiries and replies from this or any Forum to my notes on the person being researched, but have obviously not done so in May. I think I have found his father Patrick on the 1911 census living in Shotton Lane, Shotton, so I think he is the RAF man. Many thanks. Kind regards, Mavis
No apologies required Mavis.I can tell you that sometimes I feel I am not on this earth but on Fullers.
Not the ale Kevin I can assure you.....in the backwoods of the West Riding,a reference to Fullers was always interpreted as Fuller's Earth. Fuller's ale almost unheard of in the WR.....only sampled on trips to the smoke.
