WRNS casualty query

Discussion in 'The Women of WW2' started by Tonym, May 14, 2010.

  1. Tonym

    Tonym WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    I have a WRNS casualty - Third Officer Margaret Roseanne COLE, recorded by CWGC as died 19th January 1946 and commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial. Her home station was HMS Braganza in or near Bombay, India.

    My research indicates her cause of death as 'MISSING PRESUMED KILLED'. This could suggest an incident/accident at sea or perhaps civil unrest.

    Anybody have any clues or information?

    Tony
     
  2. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Hi Tony,

    Anyway of checking to see if the Japanese Bombed Bombay/HMS Braganza during the war?

    Regards
    Andy
     
  3. Tonym

    Tonym WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Andy

    Thanks for the thought but Margaret's death is recorded some six months after the Japanese surrender so I would doubt any Japanese arial activity.

    Apart from the possibility of a sailing tragedy the only other possibility that I can think of is civil unrest as a result of the Independence problem building up.

    Tony
     
  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Sorry Tony, totally missed the year (Yes I know the war ended in 45 before anyone says anything).

    I can't think of anything else that you have mentioned other than a aircraft crash.

    Andy
     
  5. Tonym

    Tonym WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Just discovered this on a Google search - ROLL OF HONOUR - Chatteris War Memorial, Cambs.


    Quote - Third Officer, HMS Braganza, Women's Royal Naval Service. 19-1-46, age 30. Daughter of Charles & Catherine Cole, of Chatteris. Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent. The Cambs Times of Friday, 1/2/1946 carried a small front page story which says that Margaret Cole had been found dead in a locked hotel room in Karachi on the day that she was due to return to England after 3½ years in India. She had been in the WRNS for five years. It also mentions that the story was reported by the national press the previous Saturday. Some of her things had already been sent home to her parents ahead of her expected return.


    This report suggests that there was a body that one assumes was buried (in India ?) so why a commemoration on Chatham Naval Memorial?

    Tony
     

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