British Field Graves of the men who were Buried close to where they fell in 1940

Well worked out you two.

 

A Royal Naval rating buried without a name in St Malo. Reason - no ID tags left with the body to identify him. Well, not quite true...there was a tag simply with the number 123.107 which has so far not been identified despite many hours of researching. This is not the original gravestone of course. He was exhumed/re-buried after the war. I understand that the exhumation of unknown soldiers/roadside graves was carried out by GCU's (Grave Concentration Units). Does anyone have knowledge of where records of these units might be kept? I am particularly interested in GCU 87 which was active in France.

 

Grave of an unknown soldier. Near Dunkirk. Photo from my collection.
Keith

 

Graves of Fallen English Soldiers on the Western Front in France 1940. Photo from my collection.
Keith

 

French and British grave. You could miss this grave and never find it if the wooden pole went missing. Photo from my collection.
Keith

 

Two more photos in my collection of French and British graves 1940. One name is Chelley BEF. No id of area.
Keith

 

T/127692 Driver Charles Henry CHELLEY Royal Army Service Corps (attached No.2 Lines of Communication Railhead Company R.A.O.C.)
1st February 1910 Swansea, Glamorgan - Died Between 20 May 1940 and 23 May 1940 aged 30
Boulogne Eastern Cemetery
Plot13. Row B. Grave 18.




South Wales Evening Post Friday 28th March 1941

 

Thank you guy for the info

 

Grave of unknown British soldiers. Near Dunkirk. Photo from my collection.
Keith

 

Photo in my collection of French and British graves 1940. i added colour.
Keith

 

(image by International Wargraves Photography Project at findagrave.com)

 

Photo in my collection . British graves 1940. i added colour.
Keith

 

This photo was on epay. 6654365 P.S.M. C.W. Frost 8-5-40 ?

 

(image by Ben at findagrave.com)

WO III Charles Wilgress Frost (unknown-1940) -...

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2319741/charles-wilgress-frost/

 

During the course of my research related to the field graves found around Wulpen (in Belgium) after the combats fought there between May 30th and May 31st 1940, I came across the files of four British soldiers that couldn't be identified at the time. Also, since none of them are currently resting in the Wulpen churchyard, I have no idea where they eventually found a last resting place.

The 1940 Wulpen communal records (now archived in Coxyde) contained nothing that permitted to identify these fallen soldiers, except for one.



The men in charge of unearthing the body noted the following (translated form Dutch):

• English, Probably Suffolk
• Hight: 1m80 (5' 11")
• His only possession was a church book with a green cover with the letters GR and on the first page 'BRENETT Clide 1931' - 'THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD & SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST'
• Wore a leather vest with sleaves
• English soldier
• Three stripes on both sleaves (sergeant stripes were pictured on the document)
• A gas mask was found in close proximity with an identity plaque 'N°5824965 C. MILLER'
• Body found on the farmstead of R. Debamt (I'm trying to locate this farm)

There were no specific remarks concerning the state of the body, which would suggest it was whole and without any noticeable wounds. The officials apparently didn't found any wallet or ring. If they had, they would have stated it as they had done for the other casualties. Finally, my research suggest that this John Doe was found on the same location as two other British soldiers that were identified as Pte DIGGINS William Arthur (S/N 5827477) and Pte MARKHAM Alfred Edward (S/N 5823447), both serving in the 1st Bn Suffolk Regt.

The remains of this man, along with the other three unidentified soldiers, were reburied in the Wulpen churchyard on October 5th 1940 (grave N° 116).
Strangely though, nowadays, there are no John Does are listed in that cemetery.

Could anyone help me shed some light on this case?

KR,
Christian

 

According to the CWGC there are six unknowns in Wulpen Churchyard but they do not list from which war (WW1 or WW2) . The gasmask wearer 5824965 Miller survived the war his medal card is below :-


The Suffolks have the following Sergeants/Warrant Officers `missing` and commemorated at The Dunkirk Memorial :-

Lance Serjeant
BARNETT HENRY THOMAS ELGIE
Service Number: 5826858
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Suffolk Regiment
1st Bn.
Date of Death
Died 31 May 1940
Age 20 years old
Buried or commemorated at
DUNKIRK MEMORIAL
Column 45.
France
Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Headstone Placeholder
Country of Service
United Kingdom
Additional Info
Son of Albert William and Annie Elizabeth Elgie.

Warrant Officer Class III
WALTER EPHRAIM WYARTT
Service Number: 5823511
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Suffolk Regiment
1st Bn.
Date of Death
Died 24 May 1940
Age 33 years old
Buried or commemorated at
DUNKIRK MEMORIAL
Column 45.
France
Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Headstone Placeholder
Country of Service
United Kingdom
Additional Info
Son of Walter Edward and Annie Elizabeth Wyartt of Burstall, Suffolk ; husband of Violet Amelia Wyartt, of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

Lance Serjeant
ERNEST KITCHENER PEACOCK
Service Number: 5825757
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Suffolk Regiment
1st.Bn.
Date of Death
Died Between 01 June 1940 and 02 June 1940
Age 24 years old
Buried or commemorated at
DUNKIRK MEMORIAL
Column 45.
France
Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Headstone Placeholder
Country of Service
United Kingdom
Additional Info
Son of Frederick and Jane Peacock; husband of Alice Peacock, of Ipswich, Suffolk.


Serjeant
ARTHUR LAWRENCE CHARLES HERBERT
Service Number: 5826102
Regiment & Unit/Ship
Suffolk Regiment
1st Bn.
Date of Death
Died 29 May 1940
Age 24 years old
Buried or commemorated at
DUNKIRK MEMORIAL
Column 45.
France
Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Headstone Placeholder
Country of Service
United Kingdom
Additional Info
Son of Charles and Annie Herbert, of Thorpe Morieux, Suffolk; husband of Joan Nellie Herbert, of Glemsford, Suffolk.



5823447 MARKHAM has a death date of 31 May 1940 DIGGINS listed between 31 May 1940 and 01 June 1940 .

The New Testament cover initials GR or service issue as below?


Kyle

 

Hallo Kyle,
Quite extraordinary! Thank you so much!

I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it would seem that there is a good chance Lance Serjeant BARNETT may be the man we're looking for. The dates coincide and the resemblance between BARNETT and 'BRENETT' seems too obvious for being a mere coincidence. One should also keep in mind that the body and the church book had been hastily buried and laid in a field grave for several months. This no doubt rendered pencil inscriptions difficult to read.

I was wondering: the officials noted a leather vest. I don't recall this being standard issue. Could it be that Lance Serjeant BARNETT had a special function? A courier perhaps?

As to the gas mask, I noted that Charles Edward MILLER occupied a position at 'HQ 3rd Br INF DIV'.
Could it be possible that Serjeant BARNETT also served there?

KR,
Christian

 

Could it be a WWII British Army Leather Jerkin,

 

Although the CWGC database gives no details of unidentified burials, the graves registration reports do. All six at Wulpen are May 1940 casualties. Four have no details, one is East Yorks and the other is the Sergeant from the Suffolks.




There were no issue British long sleeved leather garments. The jerkin at that stage of the war was not personal issue but issued from stores for specific tasks so commonly seen in phoney war labour photos. They do appear occasionally in POW images though so presumably some were liberated from stores lorries etc.

What do you think the exact wording is, Christian ? "Had lederen vest aan ?? mouwen" The first letter of the missing word looks the same as his "z" in "zich". Could it be an old-fashioned shorthand for "zonder" ? The only other time that he dips below the line like that is at the beginning of "plaatje".

To have had rank markings on both sleeves would indicate personal kit. As an aside, if the markings as drawn are correctly orientated, then they would be good conduct stripes, but then normally only on one sleeve.

The missing sergeant's name was Barnett ELGIE. It looks to me as if the Belgian record shows BRENETT Elige. It's awfully close to Barnett Elgie, isn't it ? If it was his book though, then 1931 would have to be the print date as he'd only have been 11 or 12 years old at the time.

One thing that really comes out of these Belgian accounts is the care that local authorities and communities took of the British war dead. They really did their best in what must have been dreadful circumstances in what was by then an occupied country.

Edit. It looks as if Barnett Elgie's father, husband of Annie Elizabeth Elgie of Framlingham was killed whilst serving with the RAMC in October 1918 so presumably the son was born the next year (he was 20 in 1940) and never knew his father. Poor Annie then lost a son, with no known grave at the start of the next conflict.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/522275/albert-william-elgie/