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Remembered Today:

PoW translation of entry


jay dubaya

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Hi,

buried at Laon.

Potier, James; 2nd Regiment Royal Troups, died 14th Oct.1914 at the hospital of/in Laon. Shot to right side of body and arm.

 

GreyC

Edited by GreyC
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Thank you very much for such a rapid response GreyC. He went missing at Zanvoorde on the 29th October 1914 as stated in his service papers, Laon must be around 150km south of Zanvoorde. The ICRC have three tickets for him which all state 14th October, given the distance involved I can only suggest the month is wrong on the ICRC tickets which I assume came from one source?

 

J

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There is a big problem here, location, date and initial are all wrong.

 

The German report is for a wounded Potter J. that died on 14 October in the hospital at Laon from the 2nd batallion "Royal Troups"

The remains from the chuchyard at St. Just, Laon have been identified as:

Trooper POTTER, C J, 2756, Died 29/10/1914, 2nd Life Guards

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/4026868/potter,-/

 

I am sure that this is wrong and should have been:

POTTER, JAMES MCMILLAN, 9312, Died 14/09/1914, 2nd Bn. Royal Scots

LA FERTE-SOUS-JOUARRE MEMORIAL, Seine-et-Marne, France 

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/723668/potter,-james-mcmillan/

The location, date, initial and regiment are a perfect match.

 

Luc.

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Date not perfect Luc, it’s a month out and the word ‘troupe’ is confusing, all a little iffy to say the least. I agree that James M Potter appears to be a better fit. These graves appear to have been move to Turlincthun BC in 1973 but not the WW2 graves, any idea why not the latter?

 

J

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There are 4 index cards that appear to refer to the same person, what troubles me is that there are 2 different grave numbers supplied by the German authorities. PA12601 records the individual grave No 130, PA4460 grave number 2. The CWGC concentration records state grave 130 and also the date of death has been revised twice. 

 

Charlie

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, jay dubaya said:

Date not perfect Luc, it’s a month out and the word ‘troupe’ is confusing, all a little iffy to say the least. I agree that James M Potter appears to be a better fit.

 

I had noticed that the date is a month later, but he died in a german hospital from wounds. I don't see anything wrong with this. Potter J is reported to have died there when 2756 Potter CJ was still alive and well some 200 Km's away......

The 2nd Bn.Royal Scots were in Vailly at the Aisne from 13 till 25 September and suffered considerable casualties, only 20 Km away from the hospital at Laon.

http://www.theroyalscots.co.uk/2nd-bn-in-the-bef-2/

It might be extremely difficult to prove all this for CWGC/JCCC acceptance but it is not a Life Guard that is buried there.

 

Luc.

 

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Soldiers effects records James Potter, Royal Scots, as KiA and not as a PoW.

 

Charlie

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Agreed Luc, no way can this be a 2nd Life Guard and not Charles James Potter. There are more ICRC tickets (R 7399, PA 12601 and PA 4460 the latter 2 mentioned by Charlie above the ones I found yesterday P 433, P 531 and PA 4609) for James Potter with dates of 17th October 1914, James McMillan Potter's service papers survive and . This is another can of worms I appear to have opened.

 

J

Just now, charlie2 said:

Soldiers effects records James Potter, Royal Scots, as KiA and not as a PoW.

 

Charlie

 

Charles James Potter 2nd Life Guards Star Roll records Died in Germany?

 

what a mess................

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31 minutes ago, charlie2 said:

Soldiers effects records James Potter, Royal Scots, as KiA and not as a PoW.

 

 

31 minutes ago, jay dubaya said:

Charles James Potter 2nd Life Guards Star Roll records Died in Germany?

what a mess................

 

Maybe this is the reason for the mis-identification, they were looking for a Potter that died as POW.....

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I also would agree with that Luc.

Potter was reported missing with Hawkins on 29th October 1914 confirmed in both their papers, ICRC appear to have three enquiry tickets for Hawkins but nothing else. WD reports the trenches held by 2nd Life Guards half mile NW Zanvoorde heavily shelled.

Edited by jay dubaya
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Soldiers effects for CJ Potter records „death presumed on or after 29th Oct 1914“. Just to add another variable, in official german documents it is acceptable, to reverse the order of forenames, eg Potter, James Charles. Cans of worms are interesting :)

 

Charlie

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1 hour ago, charlie2 said:

Cans of worms are interesting :)

 

Indeed, I have opened several recently :o

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