Pte. William Merry 8503 Suffolk Regiment.

[Richard Merry]

Hi, Trying to find out what happened to Pte. William Merry 8503 Suffolk Regiment after he was captured at Le Cateau . He was listed in the

Suffolk & Essex Free Press - 4 Nov 1914 - listed as 'Reported as missing under date 25 Oct 1914' [W MERRY Pte 8503] & in the

Suffolk Regimental Gazette - Jan 1916 - listed as POW at Doeberitz [W MERSEY Pte 8503]. Even his own Regiment could not get his name right.

I know he did not get repatriated till 1919. His service record shows that his last place of internment was Wintenbug is there any way to find out what other camps he might have been in... Would anyone have any photos of the Regiment from around that time. Would be glad to hear from anyone who could help.

[Stebie9173]

Further POW lists are now available from the International Committee of the Red Cross:

http://grandeguerre.icrc.org/

These have him shown on the following index card:

http://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/3815344/3/2/

These show him at Doberitz (card reference PA/81 - I can't see the date but this is an early list as they seem to be roughly chronological by number) and then at Klein Wittenburg (PA/40270, dated 11-11-1918), so this fits with other records available. The second card lists his previous camp as Doberitz prior to being transferred to Wittenberg, so it looks like you are probably dealing with just the two camps.

http://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/3815344/1872/81/

http://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/List/3815344/1872/40270/

The latter list shows him in "A" Company of the 2nd Suffolks.

Doberitz was the original destination of a large percentage of the Suffolks captured at Le Cateau (as it was with my own great-uncle, below) so I have little doubt that William Merry's original camp was Doberitz as well.

The Million $ question is when did he move camps?

Steve.

P.S. Just found your original question on his service. I knew the name was ringing a bell!

[Richard Merry]

Hi Steve, Thanks again, I presume this is the information the Swiss Red Cross were going to charge me 200 Swiss francs for a couple of years ago. I wonder what happened to all of the German records. Did they disappear, it seems funny that with all the German efficiency that there are no clear records on their prison camps. It would be nice to know what happened in those missing five years. Its no wonder he went of the rails a bit after the war. Again thanks for the help & if I find any more I will post it.

Regards

Richard

[Stebie9173]

Yes, that would have been what you would have got (in summary form) fro the ICRC for you Swiss Francs. I suppose it adds one more piece of information, being his company in the Suffolks which would help you position him on Suffolk Hill.

I think the loss of many German records happened for the same reason that ours got "lost" - i.e. they were destroyed in WW2 bombing.

Steve.