In the summer of 1987 an airman's body was found in a peat bog on Hatfield Moor, quite close to RAF Finningley and RAF Lindholme. There were no dogtags or other means of identification so it was buried with a "Known to God" headstone in the parish churchyard at Finningley. I believe it was not buried for quite a while after being discovered. Cam anyone please tell me exactly when the burial took place and was it done with full military honours?
Have you contacted CWGC to ask for further details Cemetery Drop a line here Finningley Church – Finningley Village Community Group
Thanks, I have already contacted them and they sent me a photo of the grave but no indication of when the burial took place
Going around in circles As stated lots of urban myth crap going on ghosts etc Loss of Wellington W5557 27th September 1941 If you contact the cemetery they will have dates of burials or the other link i posted
Yes Kyle I know but they should have more details re the burial and where the body was received from etc This story has been knocking about for ages
Yes agreed they should but I thought he (archivist) only wanted the date of reburial ? That`s all I really looked for, the rest was linked purely for background information. Kyle
Thank you to all respondents. I had the date of 11th November 1987 but a military family in the area tod me that they had attended every remembrance day ceremony for many years and had never known of such a burial taking place. I know that the authorities would have to conduct enquiries before the reburial but he was found in July 1987 and four months seems a very long time for a man who was clearly a war death - further enquiries could easily take place after a post mortem and reburial. The issue has been heavily clouded by the silly ghost story and the Wellington Kyle referred to was actually a Halifax - although it was widely reported as a Wellington. The church sent me a photo of the grave but no detail on the reburial date.
Hello Tony56. Thank you for that information which will be very helpful. This whole issue is very confused as Cl1 so rightly says because of the ghost stories surrounding the area and which are supposed to have come to an end with the burial of this man. I am not interested in ghost stories. I believe I know who this man is and I am utilising every bit of information I can find to help me prove it. My aim is nothing to do with ghosts, it is to get this man a proper headstone and to bring closure to his family after over 70 years. If my initial identification is correct, I have already located the family but I don't want to name him and possibly upset them until I am absolutely certain
Thats fine I just think that there ought to be more info re newspaper reports etc which would help you further.
I have scoured the newspapers but I must not be using the right keywords because I have found nothing. I have spoken to locals and only one of them even remembers the body being found. But I will not give up!
I attended a very interesting and informative talk by Andrew Greenslade in Finningley church last night. If you have any doubts as to the circumstances of this story, he is the man to contact. He is a retired policeman who was on the original investigation team when the body was found. He has carried out extensive investigations into this still open case over the past 35 years even though he retired 16 years ago. The remains were burried eventually with full military honours at Finningley but only when the coroner was satisfied that beyond any reasonable doubt, this was an airmen who died in the line of duty. The nationality of the body is still unknown for certain but most of the available evidence would point to someone wearing a RAF leather flying jacket and hand knitted woollen long John's.
hello and welcome CWGC confirmed that the burial of an unknown airman took place on 11 November 1987. I have a query with the RAF historical records department to see if they have anymore information. regards Clive
Thank you PedroC402, I am aware of the ongoing nature of the case. Things have moved on quite a lot from where they were when I started this thread and I am much closer to identifying the body that was found and buried then. I have narrowed it down to the crew of one particular aircraft and I have a pretty firm idea of which crew member it was. The South Yorkshire Police have shown no interest and claim to have kept no records of the incident although Mr Greenslade claims the case remains open. I don't know which is true but I have by-passed them and gone to a national level with the report of my findings. I hope in due course that they will get back to me and we can get on with the main purpose of my investigation which is to get this man a named headstone. Until that happens I will not be revealing his name.
I would be very interested in any information you come up with. I don't want to reveal the man's name until I have proved whether it is him and I have found his surviving family if there are any. My aim is to keep his story separate from the silly ghost stories and the idiots who are promoting them by confusing several different air crashes and intertwining bits of all of them into one just for the sake of a story - with no interest in the truth
Yes mate agree I shall post on here when I get it.CWGC dont have anything at all I had a good chat with them air historical asked me to send an email which I did so await further info
no joy here another mail sent as suggested below will update as and when i hear back Unfortunately, we do not hold any records relating to the burial of an unknown airman at Finningley in 1987. I can only suggest that you contact the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Cell (JCCC) at Imjin Barracks, Gloucester, who would have handled the funeral arrangements at the time and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) who maintain the grave. They can be contacted at: regards Clive