Officer Cadet E.N. Reynolds, RAC, killed 17th November 1943

In June I shall be taking a group of boys to visit the grave of 1942 Bury Grammar School captain E.N. 'Josh' Reynolds who is buried at Cheadle Cemetery in Staffordshire. I carried out some research on him nearly twenty years ago and established that he was killed in a tank training accident; according to a school friend he was participating as a tank commander on a night training exercise when his vehicle overturned, crushing him in the turret. Unfortunately, although I believe that the accident took place near Alton Towers I have not been able to confirm this. David Fletcher at the Tank Museum was unable to find any evidence of an RAC OCTU in the area at all and the local Records Office couldn't come up with anything either. Could anyone shed any further light on this?
The photograph shows 'Josh' Reynolds with other cadets, shortly before his death. Josh is in the centre of the photograph, fifth from the left on the middle row. Unfortunately I don't have a detailed provenance for the photograph or any indication of who the others are.

 

For Reference



REYNOLDS, EDWARD NASH

Rank:

Officer Cadet

Service No:

14303024

Date of Death:

17/11/1943

Age:

19

Regiment/Service:

Royal Armoured Corps

Grave Reference

Grave A.M. 2.

Cemetery

CHEADLE CEMETERY

Additional Information:
Son of Edward and Mary Reynolds. Captain of Bury Grammar School, 1940-42; Exhibitioner of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2712838/REYNOLDS,%20EDWARD%20NASH

 

Thanks. I have visited the grave before, in 1995, when the the-then School Captain and Senior Cadet, Steven Peet, laid a wreath. Josh had deferred his place at Cambridge until after the war, just like his 1915 predecessor as school Captain John Maddox, who was killed by a sniper at Delville Wood in August 1916.
More pictures, showing Josh shortly before his death and our visit to his grave in 1995

 

good day mark hone,sm,yesterday,09:44am.refficer cadet e.n.reynolds.rac,killed 17 november,1943.may he rest in peace.regards bernard85,

 

Alton Towers was certainly an OCTU as there is (or was) a plaque on the original house commemorating the fact that it was 160 Infantry OCTU; it was a specialist Machine Gun OCTU. My father spent time at the next nearest OCTU, Trentham Gardens. He may have been a soldier in an RAC unit, but not heading for an RAC one on commissioning.

 

His friend maintained that the accident took place at Barnard Castle but if so why was he buried at Cheadle, unless, say the family had moved there from Bury. I seem to recall that I was pretty certain in 1995 that he had died at Alton Towers but annoyingly I have mislaid the notes I made then.

 

Checking the original CWGC paperwork which has just been attached to the online database , he is described as a member of '160 OCTU, RAC'. Right OCTU for Alton Towers, then.

 

Mark.

The windows in the photographs look very like those of Old College, Royal Military Academy at Sandurst.

Regards

FdeP

 

Thanks. I shall continue investigating.