Dorsetshire Regiment 1944 pre D-Day

I am researchin Robert William East

Private 5730900 killed in UK on 15 May 1944

According to his Grave Records, he was killed in the UK

As the date was just before D-Day, I assume he was not killed as a result of enemy action.

Can anyone please shed some light on what may have happened to him.

I am thinking along the lines of him being a victim of an accident whilst training or final preperations for the D-Day invasion.

he is buried in his home church in Oxfordshire

Thanks in advance

Colin

 

Do you know what Battalion he was in? I have the 2nd Battalions history covering WW2. Idler may have more.

 

Sorry
All I have at the moment is his service number 5730900, Date of Death 15MAY1944 and Dorsetshire Regiment killed in UK Theatre.

Colin

 

I'm afraid there is no mention of any 1st Bn casualties in this period in Three Assault Landings (the 1 Dorset history) and he's not in their roll of honour. Still haven't got the 4th & 5th Bn histories - they would be the next best bet.

As no battalion is identified on CWGC it's also possible that he was a casualty at their training centre, maybe?

 

Hello New Chap, I think you have enough information to treat this as a straight forward Family History search. You have enough to go on to get a copy of his death certificate. It will cost a little but should tell you where he died as that is on all Death Certificates.Hope this helps
Sylvia

 

Did you check on regimental casualties for that day?

 

He is not in the role of honour of the 5th Bn Dorsetshire Regiment history. There is no roll of honour in the 4th Battalion history. Neither history provides much detail before Normandy. In either case, there is no mention of the date May 15th, 1944 in either history.

 

From Findagrave.com site:

Pvt Robert William East

Casualty of WWII,Robert served with the Dorsetshire Regiment;Service No: 5730900. He was 24 and the son of Harry and Alice Eliza May East, of Stanton St. John.

Burial:
Saint John the Baptist
Stanton St John
Oxfordshire, England

 

I also found on Ancestry that he was 24 when he died and he was born in Gloucestershire.

 

There's only one other UK-buried casualty for May:



032

PITMAN

P

5735382

9TH BN

06/05/1944

DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT

I've no details on the 9th Bn as there's no 'regimental' history, just the battalion ones mentioned above.

 

I'll try and check this diary when I have time WO 166/15092 9 Dorsetshire Regiment 1944 Jan.-July

 

Here is a little about the 9th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment (ex-70th Battalion):


70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion, The Dorsetshire Regiment

The battalion was raised from the Young Soldier companies of the 6th (HD) Battalion on November 4th, 1940 at Broadmayne in Dorset. Over the next few months the Battalion HQ moved to Southbourne, then Southampton and finally Gosport with the battalion scattered over Dorset and Hampshire. It moved its HQ to Bournemouth in September 1941 and in August 1942 the whole battalion concentrated at Broadmayne to train with the 115th Infantry Brigade. The battalion was retitled as the 9th Battalion on September 27th, 1942 and became a Field Force Battalion.

134th Infantry Brigade – 7 October 1942 to 28 December 1943
It moved to Colchester and came under the 134th Infantry Brigade on October 7th, 1942. The battalion moved to Portrush, Northern Ireland in February 1943 and to Antrim in May 1943.

The battalion left the brigade on December 18th, 1943 and returned to England at Eastbourne. It then became the demonstration battalion at the School of Infantry at Barnard Castle. At D-Day it was reorganized as a cadre of 20 officers and 200 other ranks as a Reserve Division Training Unit, while the rest of the manpower was used as reinforcements.