Dunkirk and the East Surrey Regiment

hi everyone, my son and me went to dunkirk cemetary tuesday 30/8/2011 excellently kept gardens and memorial and found my grandfathers name on memorial wall.humbling experience what these brothers in arms went through for all of us,trying to explain as much as i can to my 11yr old son left him dazed in dis-belief,he left a tribute to him and his comrades in the visitors book in front of a brilliant etched glass window depicting the terrible scenes,"and miracle" of the evacuation

 

welcome to the forum

 

Welcome to the forum waudy - enjoy!

Assuming you wish to share, who was your grandfather and who did he serve with?

Best,

Steve.

 

sorry all if i tried to jump the gun but i am not very astute with this computer stuff yet so bear with me and i will start again correctly.hopefully

 

hello steve, he was with the bef east surrey regiment the 2/6

 

sorry again the 1/6 east surrey my mistake, i have so many questions but so few answers!

 

My grandfather was Frederick waud and died in the rearguard action around dunkirk,it would be great to find out where exactly he was at the time as i understand it was everyman for himself so at the time must have been chaotic to know the whereabouts of each and all?

 

Fredrick waud of the 1/6 east surrey

 

WAUD, FREDERICK
Initials:F
Nationality:United Kingdom
Rank:Private
Regiment/Service:East Surrey RegimentUnit Text:1st Bn.
Age:34
Date of Death:09/06/1940
Service No:6619255
Additional information:Son of William George and Louisa Elizabeth Waud; husband of Rose Alice Waud, of Clapton, London.Casualty Type:Commonwealth War DeadGrave/Memorial Reference:Column 60.Memorial:DUNKIRK MEMORIAL

 

thanks for that highland 81

 

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/user-introductions/38532-waudy.html
User Introductions here.




Moving to 1940 sub forum.

 

If you want to learn more about Dunkirk in general i recommend the book

'We remember Dunkirk'.

its usualy availible for about £5 on amazon/ ebay

 

Hello Waudy, 9th June is quite a late date for a 1/6 East Surreys death with no known grave. As far as I'm aware, they were transferred from 44th Division to 4th Division during May 1940 and should all have been evacuted by 9th June. It may be that he died of wounds and his lack of a marked grave is the result of poor record-keeping. A common problem with 1940 casualties.

Drew5233 is the person to talk to on here. He has a copy of the battalion's war diary (WO167/828) and may also be able to help with copies of the missing persons file for the unit.

Unfortunately, he resides in the wilds of Yorkshire and is sitting there at the moment with a failed internet connection. He'll be doing his nut if I know Andy.

I've posted a visitor message asking him to have a look at this thread when he's back on line so stay around. I'm sure that you'll be pleasantly surprised by just how much can be found out, certainly regarding the battalion's hard fighting in the days prior to evacuation.

 

hello rich i had to go to work hence the delay in saying thanks for the reply, yes have confirmation he died on 9th june 1940 which i thought was late.Im 48 and when younger seem to have heard a conversation in the family saying the longer my grandfather was M.I.A my nan would still receive full money entitlement from army but widows pension is less am i correct?I am still puzzled, his body was never found so who would know for sure that he died on that specific date.

 

If you want to learn more about Dunkirk in general i recommend the book

'We remember Dunkirk'.

its usualy availible for about £5 on amazon/ ebay
cheers singeager for the information

 

Hi,

CWGC list him as 1st Battalion and you mentioned he was 1/6th Battalion? Is the later an error on your part or has CWGC listed his unit incorrectly?

Regards
Andy

 

A quick glimpse in both diaries shows that both units were officially back in the UK by the 2nd June. The 1st Bn has a nominal roll in their diary of killed, wounded and missing men and Waud is not listed.

The fact he has an exact date of death suggests there must be some record of him dying-It could be a case of checking the regiments BEF missing file and see if he is in there.

Part of me thinks he would have died of wounds with his date of death being so late but if that was the case I would expect him to have a grave.

Do you have a copy of his service records?

Regards
Andy

 

Whilst I still remember, I was thinking about this thread earlier today at work and another possibility that came to me which could explain the late date of death and no grave is he was killed whilst a prisoner of war.

 

Hello drew,thanks for the infomation,i have no service records at moment but but his service No is 6619255 the vague information i have is that he was retreating back across a bridge,got hit,and because it was every man for himself,the bridge was blown but apparently he was dead before this,its a story i got from family,"true" i am not sure?.What i can gather he was a T.A in the east surrey regiment and sure the 1/6.Being decimated and scattered on the retreat is it possible, that whoever was left got transferred into a different battalion,i am only guessing,what do you think?

 

The story may have some truth but it doesn't fit in with his date of death. Both of those battalions had left France by then so he could not have been dead when the 'bridge' was blown.

The battalion and other details listed on CWGC would have been given to them by the Army Records Dept-that doesn't mean there's a mistake somwehere along the line. I've never heard of men being transferred to other units in France-Attached yes but that would not change the parent unit details. As far as I'm aware transfers only happened when men/units returned to the UK and were re-organised. His service records are a good step forward to ID the unit and take your research forward.

If you are near the National Archives he maybe listed in the East Surreys Missing Men File WO 361/79 which could if you are lucky state how he was killed or when he was last seen.