Missing by Richard van Emden

[Michelle Young]

I noted this new book by Richard when looking at Amazon. Has anyone seen or read it please? @Forton

Michelle 

[Forton]

Hi Michelle

without blowing my own trumpet (by blowing my own trumpet), Paul Reed very kindly tweeted the following about my book:

 ‘Not just highly recommended, this is essential reading. The best Great War book of 2019 in my view.’

Hope that helps.

Richard

 

[Gardenerbill]

Apparently frequently bought along with 'Mark Bright, My Story' (for the none sporting he was a footballer). Anyway added to my reading list.

[helpjpl]

Missing: The Need for Closure After the Great War:

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Missing.html?id=BNbyxgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

 

Interview with Richard van Emden starts at 02:38:

https://play.acast.com/s/dansnowshistoryhit/32dbfa9b-43e9-47b6-86f3-91b8e7fc4205

 

JP

 

 

[Michelle Young]

I have asked Santa for the book, it looks fascinating. Will report  back if I do receive it. 

 

Michelle 

[Michelle Young]

Santa has been kind, I'm looking forward to reading it!

Michelle 

[Michelle Young]

It’s a really good book, fascinating and compelling. I’m not sure if I can make the conference, but if Richards talk is anywhere as near as good as the book, attendees are in for an absolute treat. 
Michelle 

[Gardenerbill]

Santa also brought me this book looking forward to reading it.

[mandy hall]

I have just started reading this book, purchased myself.  I also don’t know if I will get to the conference.  Having heard Richard at a previous GWF conference talking about his book The Quick and The Dead, he was excellent.

 

Mandy

[Forton]

Thank you Michelle and thank you Mandy. Gosh, you are setting me up for an almighty fall. Better get my thinking cap on!! I am delighted you liked the book so much, Michelle.

[keithmroberts]

I'm saving myself for your contribution at the GWF conference.

True to my Yorkshire heritage I hope to acquire a reduced copy.  I look forward to meeting you again Richard

 

 

Keith

[David Spencer]

Caught my eye too. Thanks for the positive feedback.

Always good to get people's thoughts before taking the plunge.

[Le_Treport]

I'm racing through this book, and wallowing in every page. It's just my type of book - I'm not very good with the dry, tactical histories of particular battalions etc. So this very human-based story is great. Two parallel themes - the Mond family's search for their son and the development of the GRU to IWGC. Great read as are all of Richard's books.

 

I'm one of a band of volunteers who are helping to 'tidy up' the archives at the CWGC (it's a tough job but someone's got to do it) and have come to know some of the people who were there in the early days. Not just Ware and the architects but the likes of Messrs Ingpen and Chettle, and it's great to see them appear in this book too! 

 

(If you read this Richard, and I scarcely dare to mention this - I'm sure you will have had pointed out the couple of typos! )

Edited 24 January , 2020 by Le_Treport

[Gardenerbill]

Just finished this excellent book. The description of the activities of the GRU, IWGC and the DGR&E, though interesting, could have been on their own a bit dry, but the what brings the book alive is the way Richard Van Emden interweaves the story of Lt Francis Mond and his Mother's search for his grave. The book unfolds like a detective story set against the backdrop of the political and social issues around commemoration in the post war years. Highly recommended.

[MAW]

The narrative in this book makes me wonder how many of our buried research subjects are not in the places indicated by their memorials.

[Michelle Young]

I used to visit an old veteran gentleman who refused to visit the grave of his brother, as he didn't believe he was buried in the grave marked with his headstone. He based this on having heard a conversation about reburials on a train journey. 

Michelle 

[Marilyne]

It's going on Ze List... 

 

M.

[Forton]

Thank you so much for the very kind reviews. Any noticed typos would be very gratefully received. The book was edited but things always seem to slip through no matter how hard ones tries!

[laughton]

An interesting book, but it is really two books - one about the hunt for Francis Mond and Edgar Martyn (a Canadian) and the other a book about the CWGC. I suspect that those with no interest with the process of the GRU, IWGC and CWGC may find those sections a bit boring. Most certainly written for those with an interest in that topic. Others I know have preferred the sections on the CWGC more than the story of the hunt.

 

For those who have not looked, these are the listings from the CWGC website:

• the 11th Squadron team who were initially believed to be in the graves:
  • Captain ASPINALL, JOHN VINCENT
  • Lieutenant DORNONVILLE DE LA COUR, PAUL VICTOR
     
• the 57th Squadron team that was found to be the occupants of the graves
  • Captain MOND, FRANCIS LEOPOLD
  • Lieutenant MARTYN, EDGAR MEATH

The revised documents:

 

 

His E-13 card is interesting, as it tells us something about their creation. It only refers to his burial after he was found at Doullens on 20 March 1923: (apparently reported to Canada on 12 November 1925)

 

 

Records at the International Committee of the Red Cross:

 

 

Aspinall is on the top right: (so where are their bodies now that they are known not to be in Doullens - buried by the Germans somewhere)

 

 

Reported on the Aerodrome:

• 11th Squadron:
  •  Capt J V Aspinall (Kia) & Lieut P V de La Cour (Kia), 22 11 Sqn RAF, Bristol F.2B C4882 - last seen in fight over Bouchou 17:20/18:20 on DOP south-east of Amiens and south-east of Albert
  • Offz Stv Josef Mai, Js5, Bristol, Orvillers, 18:15, 12th victory - Bristol F2b C4882, 11 Sqn, Capt J V Aspinall (Kia) & Lt P V de la Cour (Kia) ?
• 57th Squadron:
  • Lieut F L Mond (Kia) & Lieut E M Martyn (Kia), 57 Sqn RAF, DH4 A7645 – took off 09:50/10:50 then brought down Bouzencourt in aerial combat during photography; Ltn d R Johann Janzen, Js6, 6th victory [north of Hamel at 11:50/12:50] ?

 

Reported in The Sky their Battlefield II:

• 11th Squadron:
  • C4882    Bristol F2B    11 Sqn
    **DOP combat with Fokker Or! [+?ooc ≈520pm] over n.m.1. in front of VILLERS BRETONNEUX, over BOUCHOU? MIA (Capt JV Aspinall KIA/Lt PV de la Cour KIA) left 3-40pm seALBERT [?'BF' claim combat OVILLERS 5-20pm Ltn H Kirschstein Ja6] A
• 57th Squadron:
  • A7645 DH4    57 Sqn
    **Phot combat with several EAs shot down and fell into n.m.1. about 11 -3Oam MIA (Lt FL Mond KIA/Lt EM Martyn Can. KIA) unsalvable, left 9-50am BOYERCOURT - CORBIE, Lt A Hill 31st Battn AIF crept 600 yards to rescue bodies, and won an MC for this [?'BF' claim combat nHAMEL I l-5Oam Ltn J Janzen Ja6] A

 

DOP = Distant Offensive Patrol

Phot= Photographic Patrol

 

The casualty card I believe refers to the location known as BOUCHOIR (66e.K.29.b.8.2) which in the texts below is written as BOUCHOU?. Bouchoir is on the road between Amiens and Roye, just east of the "Outer Amiens Defence Line". See Nicholson Map 11. The Canadians later took Bouchoir on 9 August 1918. Most of the men from the 5th CMR who perished there are buried in Bouchoir New British Cemetery. The period trench maps show a cemetery on the road north of Bouchoir at 66e.K.30.2.8 as well as one northeast of Arvillers at 66e.K.28.a.2.8. Here is what the CWGC has to say:

 

Quote

The village of Bouchoir passed into German hands on 27 March 1918 but was recovered by the 8th Canadian Infantry Brigade on 9 August 1918. The New British Cemetery was made after the Armistice when graves were brought there from several small Commonwealth cemeteries and from the battlefields round Bouchoir and south of the village. Almost all date from March, April or August 1918 The cemetery now contains 763 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 231 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to five casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Another special memorial commemorates an airman buried in Laboissiere German Cemetery whose grave could not be found. The graves in Plots I and II are numbered consecutively from 1 to 144. Those in Plot III are numbered from 1 to 135, and the same system applies to Plot IV. Plots V and VI are numbered by rows in the usual way.

 

There are a number of graves in this cemetery that were recovered from the battlefields and were marked with German crosses.

 

There is an Unknown RAF Lieutenant in Plot 4 Row C Grave 63 that was found at 66e.K.31.c.1.5 on COG-BR 2253120. That is southwest of Arvillers, about 5,000 yards southwest of Bouchoir. There is another one in Plot 5 Row C Grave 29 found at 66e.L.23.b.3.3 on COG-BR 2253213. That is closer to Parvillers about 5,000 yards east of Bouchoir.

 

NOPE! On reading more of the details in the book again I see that Lieutenant Charles Chrichton Robson (POW) of 11th Squadron went down over Pozieres 57d.X.4. His observer Lieutenant Herbert Whiteley Sellars was KIA and supposedly buried by the Germans at that location. They had been on some sort of circular loop as they were gaining altitude over Amiens 62d.M.13 and flying south to Montdidier 66e.V.27 before they swung north and headed to Pozieres 57d.X.4. That would agree with Trevor's report that they went down in combat over Ovillers (Ovillers-la-Boisselle) 57d.X.8. It is therefore in that area that we should be looking for the remains of Sellars, Aspinall and de la Cour. There are a lot of cemeteries in that area - see CWGC map and list! Ovillers Military Cemetery (3,561 casualties) would be a good place to start (2,480 NKG). The clue to which cemetery is where did the German's bury their dead and allied recovered bodies in the Spring of 1918?   I only saw one unknown airman in Ovillers Military Cemetery: (there are no KNOWN airmen in this cemetery) COG-BR 2458366 - wing? H4 12926 57d.X.14.c - could that be an Airco DH4 with a serial number, location is good?   I checked Gordon Dump Cemetery as well. No record of any Unknown Airmen that I could see. COG-BR 2149799 - a Memorial Plot in the area where the remains would have been found at la-Boiselle

 

Edited 1 April , 2020 by laughton
added reports from other researchers

[jacks4jules]

Well I'm going to get it tonight . Soldiers missing in action is something I've come across many times during research.

My great grandmother never locked her door in hope her son would return home one day .

Ive just been researching an officer who went missing . In 1915 was sent out to a forward post and never seen again.

There had been no shell fire or gunshots his parents hoped he had been taken prisoner of war .  They were informed presumed killed over two years later after exhaustive correspondence even contacting the king of Spain.

Anither missing officer I researched his father was taken advantage of by a clairvoyant . The clairvoyant had been recommended by Arthur Conan Doyle a colleague and friend.

anyway I look forward to reading I'm an avid reader of Richards 

 

spooky read the preface that mentioned mothers not locking their back doors !

 

Edited 29 March , 2020 by jacks4jules

[The Scorer]

My copy arrived a couple of days ago … it's on the list of books to read!!

[Le_Treport]

On 05/02/2020 at 21:35, Forton said:

Thank you so much for the very kind reviews. Any noticed typos would be very gratefully received. The book was edited but things always seem to slip through no matter how hard ones tries!

 

I spotted two. The only one I can remember now is that somewhere it refers to a 'Farnham Goliath' - IIRC in first 50 pages or so.

[Forton]

Thanks for the additional research and the noted typo. I always felt so sorry for Aspinall’s father, having thought he had a grave and then losing it. Would be amazing if he was the airman in Ovillers but I guess we’ll never know.

R

[Michelle Young]

Having stayed in a Chambre  d’hôtes within a stones throw of the Mond/Martyn crash site last week , we visited the graves at Doullens as well. Just dug the book out again to re read.