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Remembered Today:

Unnamed graves


1491

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I am looking for the grave of a relative who was in the Wiltshire Regiment (Thomas Betts, 17679). He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Menin Gate. He died near Oosttaverne Wood on 13th June 1917. He may therefore be buried in Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery. There are other named graves in that cemetery of Wiltshire men who died on the same day.

 

Does anyone know if there is a record of the graves of soldiers who are partly identified (eg 'A Soldier of the Wiltshire Regiment')? 

 

This would at least raise the possibility that we may have found his grave.

 

I'd be grateful for your thoughts.

 

 

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58 minutes ago, 1491 said:

Does anyone know if there is a record of the graves of soldiers who are partly identified (eg 'A Soldier of the Wiltshire Regiment')? 

 

Some of the real experts here may have a better idea of what's available in the back end archive of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission but as a starting point I'd normally look at the Concentration Reports, (if any), the Grave Registration Report and Headstone report attached to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission webpages of the soldiers from the same unit who died on the same day. I see the CWGC has Thomas with the 6th Battalion, and their database shows 6 other men from that battalion who died on that day, three with known final resting places of which two have Concentration Reports. (The third died of wounds).

 

Then it get's messy. I'll post the details to save other people time and so hopefully others can assist move your query on.

 

The Concentration reports cover exhumation and re-location of bodies, sometimes from other cemeteries which the CWGC have decided not to maintain or it is not deemed appropriate, and others recovered from the battlefield. Map references for the original location are shown on these reports.

 

The two 6th Battalion men with known graves and Concentration Reports are:-

Lance Corporal 11823 S.S. Akers https://www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/105001/

Private 23176 E.H.Evans https://www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/105101/

 

However instead of the normal Concentration Report, they have an earlier version of the Grave Registration Report attached. The header for the report refers to Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery No.2

 

The CWGC webpage for Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery includes this note in the history section.

Two cemeteries, No.1 and No.2, were then made by the IX Corps Burial Officer on the present site and used until September 1917. They are contained in Plot I, II, and III of the present cemetery

https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/10200/oosttaverne-wood-cemetery/

 

So it could be that the reference to a Concentration Report is in error and merely relates to the consolidation of the two cemeteries. Or it could be that the CWGC has made an error and that there should be an additional document attached to those mens' webpage. That however would be a question of contacting the CWGC.

 

BTW if you look at the Grave Registration Report for Akers (Grave III A.5) and Evans (Grave III A.3) you will see that as well as graves for a number of "Unknown British Soldiers", nearby is the grave for an "Unknown Loyal North Lancs" man.

 

Hopefully someone has a quicker way to get you to the answer you are after :)

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

 

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The only records of 'partly identified' would be the concentration reports. The hard work has already been done by another forum member who has put all the concentration reports for Oosttaverne Wood MC into a pdf which is available online.

 

Oosttaverne Wood MC COG

 

TEW

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  • 4 weeks later...

The newer version ZIP Files are here:

All the cemeteries done to date are here: Shared MediaFire Site F7 C2

 

A1 ZIP & UNZIP PROGRAM YOU MAY NEED @1491

Edited by laughton
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I noticed these ones in the records - any suggestion UNKNOWN WILTS:

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