saint venant 1940-------farm boulet

[dcdl12976]

Thanks Ivor yes i think i have the one dragon but as to the other i dont have a clue im afraid obviously you have checked (or found) something i havent. Sadly i believe this could well go to very close to the top of the powers that be, military,Goverment, MOD and maybe even "another place" as the saying goes. If that is so then i feel we will not get anywhere (i hope im wrong on this) if we are correct then the can of worms contains very large,rich and powerfull worms.

Hope im wrong mate.

Cheers
Dave

[Verrieres]

Hello,
I will make this brief for Tony deserves all the credit and I want him to come here and tell you all what he has accomplished today. I will tell you this he has fought his corner well with both the MoD and CWGC today. Come on Tony credit where due mate after the consessions you got today you need to be justly proud.Well done.

Post away mate

Best

Jim

[dcdl12976]

Jim, Tony i am looking forward to some good news on this for a change. Fingers crossed

[teecee1941]

Hello All,

Sorry for the delay in replying but I've had 'one of those days'. My description of the good news that Jim writes about is more like the 'promise of good news to come' or perhaps the launching pad for a major development. What happened was this;- I wrote off to the MoDs JCCC a week or two ago and a few days ago received an email telling me that there was nothing they could do because of 'staff shortages'. I rang the office and spoke to the very charming lady who had sent me the email. I pointed out that this was not an ordinary historical search of the kind that were being put into cold storage because of lack of staff. I managed to get the message across that if the War Office at the time knew enough about Anthony being dead to amend his 'missing' status to that of 'dead' and remove him from the Army payroll, there must have been some documentary evidence to support this and the record could still exist today.

After a lengthy and promising talk I was given the number of a person at the CWGC who had already been approached by JCCC to ask if he had anything to add to what I had already told them in my introductory letter. I rang the gentleman and after the initial 'things are not looking so good on this number' he turned out to be quite keen to help. We discussed the fact that, as far as we know, there were only two casualties on the 29th May, Anthony (without identification) and Syd Walt (indentified).

It seems that Syd is buried in Saint Venant Communal Cemetery. He has a headstone marking the spot where he is buried. Next to him is an unknown. We are aware that we will probably never find out the name of that unknown but I have asked the CWGC if they could find out WHEN HE DIED. I know it's perhaps schoolboy logic but if that unknown was killed on the 29th May, then there must be a chance that he is in fact, Anthony. I realise of course that Anthony and Syd may have been a few miles apart when they died and this could have led to them being buried in different locations but if they were near enough to have been both put into the same ambulance or other means of transport, it would have made sense to bury one next to the other.

To cut a long story short, I have a promise from the CWGC that they will investigate this fully and pass their report on to JCCC who will let me know the result of their findings. The person I spoke to reinforced my belief that the CWGC deal with 'after death' cases and therefore they have an interest in this case. I suspect that if they find that the person buried next to Syd was not killed on the 29th, they now have a reason to make further enquiries to find out where that person was buried. I got the feeling that the person I spoke to was already in possession of some knowledge of the connection between the casualties of the 29th May and he talked freely about the chance of them being buried next door to each other.

About three months ago, I rang the CWGC and was told very nicely that there was nothing they could do. Perhaps because I was a bit more forceful this time or because I got to speak with a more understanding contact I now get the feeling that something is getting done. Maybe this will all collapse like all the leads we've had up to now but I am, without doubt, more hopeful than I have been for quite a while. Other subjects that came into the conversation were the Missing Men files that surprisingly do not contain the name of Anthony Corkhill. I asked about the Q forms but neither the CWGC or JCCC seemed to know anything about them.

Regards

Tony

[Verrieres]

I realise of course that Anthony and Syd may have been a few miles apart when they died and this could have led to them being buried in different locations but if they were near enough to have been both put into the same ambulance or other means of transport, it would have made sense to bury one next to the other.

Well done Tony! As for the Syd Walt ambulance scenario this is a definate possibility you see I have an eye witness account that Syd was wounded in the lower body and bleeding heavily and was left for the stretcher bearers on the 27th May 1940. If Syd died on the 29th May there must again be a record or medical file relating to it..sound familiar!
Well done again mate
Best

Jim

[teecee1941]

Jim,

point taken and if Syd and Anthony were both wounded and waiting for stretcher bearers on the 27th but did not die until the 29th, they both had two days unaccounted for. I know I keep churning up the same thing time after time but the Germans would not have either or both of them lying around from the 27th to the 29th where they would be tripping people up. They would have either killed them, or took them to hospital. I'm sure I read that account of Syd lying badly wounded and having to be left by his comrades. If he was as badly wounded as I suspect, he would not have lived much past the 27th. This supports the possibility of him being looked after in hospital until his death.

Tony

[dcdl12976]

Well done mate, at the very least you will now get this investigated (even if it gets nowhere) and thats a massive step forward.

[ivor43]

Mornin.

Tony.Great job my friend, not only have you now got someone actually looking, you have, something that may prove important. a contact, not just a name on an email, you actually got to speak to someone. Well done.
But. While i am in agreement with your feelings that they were in Hospital, i am not sure that they would have been together.
This complete lack of Hospital Records is very annoying. They MUST hold the key to the whole thing. However i may be guilty of overestimating the hospital situation.
The German's preferred to use their own aid system rather than use local Hospitals,why, possibly because of the volume of wounded passing through. But what type and degree of wounds did they deal with.
Anthony, appears to have had wounds that RSM Goddard considered not to be serious. so would these be the type of wounds that the Field Aid Post/Hospital would be able to deal with. But Syd's wounds being too severe,and untreatable, would he have been taken elsewhere, to the local Hospital, which may have been more comfortable for a dying man. Possibly, but this does nothing to change my opinion that Anthony would more than likely have been taken to Calonne.




ivor

[teecee1941]

Thanks Dave,

Fingers crossed that it is the start of a spell of good news.

Tony

[teecee1941]

Thank you, Ivor,

It was indeed nice to have someone to talk to who did not immediately dismiss the case out of hand. Lets hope this is the start of a run of good luck.

Tony

Mornin.

Tony.Great job my friend, not only have you now got someone actually looking, you have, something that may prove important. a contact, not just a name on an email, you actually got to speak to someone. Well done.
But. While i am in agreement with your feelings that they were in Hospital, i am not sure that they would have been together.
This complete lack of Hospital Records is very annoying. They MUST hold the key to the whole thing. However i may be guilty of overestimating the hospital situation.
The German's preferred to use their own aid system rather than use local Hospitals,why, possibly because of the volume of wounded passing through. But what type and degree of wounds did they deal with.
Anthony, appears to have had wounds that RSM Goddard considered not to be serious. so would these be the type of wounds that the Field Aid Post/Hospital would be able to deal with. But Syd's wounds being too severe,and untreatable, would he have been taken elsewhere, to the local Hospital, which may have been more comfortable for a dying man. Possibly, but this does nothing to change my opinion that Anthony would more than likely have been taken to Calonne.




ivor