Guest Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 Hello I have just been very fortunate to receive a copy of an article in the local press about Private George Barnes No 40636 RAMC, who died at Tounes on the 24 August 1918. He died from General weakness, caused by malnutrition, as he was a POW. He was 31 when he died. I have tried to find information about Tounes without success and wondered if some kind person could point me in the right direction, as I would like to find out more about the circumstances in which he would have been captured and treated. I know that he was taken prisoner on the 9th April, winning the MM the same day. Thank you in anticipation. Kind regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 Soldiers Died cd has him as 40635 born and enlisting in Liverpool. Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brett361975 Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 I have tried to find information about Tounes without success Can you just check the spelling of the location you are looking for, I keep getting links to Tunisia !!! Is this the POW camp he was held ? what is this in referance to please Regards Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 Could it possibly be TOURNES or TOURNAI ? Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 Hi The article was written in the Evening Express on the 19th January 1919, with a request from his mother asking for his comrades who saw him die to contact her. The spelling is TOUNES, and it states his no as 40636, but this may have been a misprint. It states that he was captured and died of general weakness. His elderly niece recalls being told that he was a POW and died of malnutrition, so I believe the article to be accurate. I just can't find anything on Tounes, so perhaps this was a mis-spelling too. Thank you for trying to help me find further information it really is appreciated. Regards Ginny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brett361975 Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 Found this reference to Tournes as suggested by rjaydee, maybe grasping at straws but this man was captured around the same time.. Whilst on active service with the 1st Battalion I was taken prisoner at Kemmel Hill on the 25th April 1918, along with many others, and then we were made to work for one and a half days in the German Artillery Lines without food or water: we were then marched to Hallowin, and kept in confinement there for four days with very little food, and were made to work unloading shells and laying light railway lines, etc. We were then sent to a place named Tournes, near Charville in Belgium and had to work there on the railway line ten hours a day for four months with very scanty food and bad sleeping accomodation. During our internment there I tried to escape with Lance Corporal Young of the 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, but that proved a failure for we could not get either a map or a compass; however I made up my mind to try to escape on my own account, and managed to cut two strands of barbed wire which was all round the camp , during the day with my pocket knife and fully intended going the same night. However that afternoon we were told to pack up our belongings, for we were going to another internment camp in Germany , so therefore, I put off the idea of escaping for a while, as I thought we should be a little better off in a camp in Germany. However after a weary two days journey by rail we found ourselves at Jeumont, three kilometres from Mauberge, on the borders of France and Belgium, and were put in a camp there that was similar to the one at Tournes, unregistered. After three months of hellish treatment there, I again made up my mind to escape , and after a good deal of trouble was fortunate enough to get a map of a Belgian civilian who was in the camp next to ours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 Ginny, There are two Medal Index Cards for him in the National Archives (£3.50) not on Ancestry as yet, with the number 40635. Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 Thank you both for your help and all the information you have written. I shall have a good read to take it in. I shall talk to Georges living uncle and only living niece, both quite elderly, and then if it's ok with you both, I will get back to you soon. George was a dearly beloved brother of their mother, and son of their grandmother. This means a lot to me and my research, so please accept my sincere thanks for your help and efforts in looking things up for me. Kindest regards. Ginny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brett361975 Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 I hope you find the answers you are looking for Ginny and may George Rest in Peace, his sacrifice is not forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 26 July , 2008 Share Posted 26 July , 2008 Hello again Re Pte. George Barnes RAMC I've been thinking as I sit and look at the photo of George and the article written in the Evening Express, with the request from his mother, wanting his comrades to get in touch with her. The article fits in with the address and area they lived, so this is what is confusing me. Why would it have on the CWGC that he was buried in Terlingthum British Cemetary Wimille, when the article states that he died at Tounes?, perhaps a mispelling. Would they have moved his body at a later date to the war grave? and would this cometary be anywhere neat Tounes, or wouldn't that matter? Your thoughts on the matter would be very much appreciated, as I wouldn't like to think that somewhere I got the wrong man. Regards Ginny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 26 July , 2008 Share Posted 26 July , 2008 Ginny. I am given to understand from other posts on the Forum site in the past, that the CWGC can tell you if a man was removed from his original burial spot to his current resting place, and where that original site was, so maybe dropping them a letter might shed some light on George. Regards Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 26 July , 2008 Share Posted 26 July , 2008 Thank you Ralph. I will do. Regards Ginny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 26 July , 2008 Share Posted 26 July , 2008 Hi again I have e-mailed the CWGC and hopefully they will be able to shed some light on things for me. Thank you again for your interest in my post. Ginny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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