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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

2nd Wiltshire Regiment


castman

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My wife has uncovered a family member who was killed on 14th November 1914.

He was 8615 Corporal George Thomas Winter of the 2nd Bn Wiltshire regiment and according to cwgc is "remembered" on panel 8 at Ploegsteert Memorial near Mesen, Belgium

I have just read the war diary entry (source: The Wardrobe) which reads:

2nd Wiltshire Saturday 14th November 1914 France, Bailleul

Ptes Goddard Townsend & Fear tried by Court Martial for deserting and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment with hard labour 18 months of which was remitted later. Battalion marched from BAILLEUL at 8am with orders to again re-inforce 4th Division but order was cancelled and after having marched 7 kilos the Battalion returned to billets.

Unless I am missing something, that doesn't look like they were under heavy combat, and yet it would seem that being "remembered' implies there was no body to be found/positively indentified. So what might have happened - assuming this diary entry is correct for that date.

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Pte. Winter is listed as having 'died' on his date and this may suggest that his death was through illness or disease so it may well be worth checking further back through the diaries. I would suspect that he did recieve a decent burial but during subsequent fighting over the same ground or indeed for other reasons the grave location was lost and he is now remembered on the memorial, it's also worth bearing in mind that he may be burried as an 'unknown' if the grave was located post-war during the cemetery concentrations but no positive ID could be made.

Further information from SDGW notes that he was born in Newbury, enlisted in Devizes and was a resident of Westbury, local papers of area may hold information of his death

cheers, Jon

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His MIC states that he died of wounds which may indicate that his grave was subsequently lost. It would probably be worth dropping a line to the CWGC.

V.

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Thanks for the suggestions.

Can I just clarify:

Firstly, what is SDGW?

I just viewed his MIC and note it doesn't give the date of his death, but does state "qualifying date 7/10/14" - what is that referring to?

Also n the MIC under the heading 'Action Taken" it states: Clash (or clasp?) / 2/ 2680 - what is that about?

and finally what further information do you suspect the CWGC might offer that is not on their website against his death?

Thanks

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SDGW - Soldiers that Died in the Great War - a searchable database that was first published in 1921 by HMSO. The qualifying date relates to the day that a soldier embarked/disembarked in a war zone. Clasp, CL or C&R (clasp and roses) as it sometimes appears tell us that a soldier was awarded the dated bar worn on the 14 Star medal, the dates 5th August - 22th November 1914 tells us that he saw action under enemy fire between these dates. The CWGC hold other information regarding many of the burials, my Great Uncle Levi is buried in Quarry Cemetery, Montauban and reading the CWGC information about this cemetery posed a few questons, I contacted the CWGC who replied with a previous burial location for Levi. I doubt they will be able to help with this case but it's always worth asking,

cheers, Jon

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