died from wounds

[paul.pengelly]

from war diary 2nd Canadian Field Ambulance,24/4/1915

"Died from wounds recevied in action"

8465, Pte F Carpenter,East Yorks Regiment

5804, Pte F Bignell,D Coy,3rd Middlesex Regiment

"at dressing station,which was under fire from 23-28th,buried in school grounds Brielen,100 yds S,E of school, B29.A.2.6.Yrpes map 282".

Hope this is of use to somebody.

Paul

[Tom Morgan]

I found it very interesting, Paul. Both of these soldiers are now commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, so they have no known graves. This means that they are either still buried in Brielen, or their remains were found but without any identification and reburied in unidentifed graves in a cemetery.

Tom

[sjustice]

If you look where that is it's likely the site was worked over by artillery many, many times and the remains lost.

Kind Regards,

SMJ

[paul.pengelly]

I found it very interesting, Paul. Both of these soldiers are now commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, so they have no known graves. This means that they are either still buried in Brielen, or their remains were found but without any identification and reburied in unidentifed graves in a cemetery.

Tom

I wonder what happened to them ?.I presume that due to the fact that they were under fire at the dressing station they were buried quickly with a view to moving them to a cemetery later on,hence the map details .As far as I can remember that is the only time they described doing something like that ,it might have happened again,but described no.Would'nt they have left something in the grave to I.D the bodies?

What was the official policy on this did they notify the mens regiment of where they were buried? ,or a third party?

How identifiable is the description?,is it traceable?,

Paul

[joseph]

Paul,

Thank You, I have entered the information on my Database for the East Yorkshire's, someone may be overjoyed with that snippet in the future.

Regards Charles

[n cherry]

Isn't that WD entry pretty unique.....it's not often a member of another unit who died in a medical units care gets a mention.....still they were Canadian and perhaps only recently arrived at the front......

Certainly not something I've seen in RAMC WD's.....

[ian turner]

Would'nt they have left something in the grave to I.D the bodies?

What was the official policy on this did they notify the mens regiment of where they were buried? ,or a third party?

How identifiable is the description?,is it traceable?,

Paul

Paul, if the area in which they were buried was worked over by enemy shellfire then there would likely be no more graves, no more bodies and no more ID left. No doubt the fate of many 'missing' names....

Ian

[paul.pengelly]

Paul, if the area in which they were buried was worked over by enemy shellfire then there would likely be no more graves, no more bodies and no more ID left. No doubt the fate of many 'missing' names....

Ian

Ian,I see what you mean,that seems to be the only case where bodies were buried not in a cemetery but near the site of the "hospital" ( due to them being under fire,),but not the only time they named the poor soul who died from wounds .That seems like the policy ,at that time anyway,or by that "author",it do'es change later,but here's another Brit i spotted.

.....June 28th,Romarin,#14270 pte Harry Rodgers.A Coy 8th (service)Bn.Royal ? Fusiliers.Died from wounds in abdomen at 1.45 am today.Buried in military cemetery at Romarin.near Nie....?

On the same excellent Canadian Archive site they have war diaries for Canadian Military Hospitals including ,Clivedon/Taplow ,which I had'nt realised treated all injured ,not just Canadian,so you do get the names of the ones they could'nt save,including in one case captured German P.O.W's.....Clivedon housed more non Canadian's than Canadian's till just before they left in 1919. Unfortunately they treated far too many to list the ones they saved so still no luck with the one i'm looking for,still it is fascinating reading.

[ian turner]

Paul,

Remember that this was the field ambulance at a deressing station - not a hospital. The casualties were first sent to a regimental aid post in the trenches then, or even directly, to a casualty clearing station just behind the lines. Here they assessed the wounds: fatal - then the victim was put aside; serious, likely to recover but unlikely fit for further service - put aside to be dealt with in time; serious and likely to make full recovery for further service - priority attention . It seems brutal but the CCS, indeed the whole casualty system, was under serious strain due to enormous numbers. At any stage near the front line, and at CCS or dressing stations the fatalities would be simply buried nearby. Many postwar cemeteries were started this way, from CCS burial plots. Not from formal cemeteries.

They were near the front line, and subject to shelling and the ebb and flow of war passing over the same ground, with attack and counter-attack, over a period of four years.

Many graves were obliterated, destroyed, damaged or simply lost their markers. Post war, if the remains were recovered but were not identifiable then they ended up in 'unknown' graves, even if originally they had been identified burials.

Ian