Mystery man and family coincedence

[Graeme Heavey]

Amazing coincedence! On viewing my gt grandads medal roll at the NA, 6611 Pte B Heavey 4th Bn Royal Fusiliers, the next man below him in the list was Pte EA Heavey 4th Bn Royal Fusiliers, apparently killed in action. He is of no relation that we know of. Gt grandads brother was Patrick Heavey of 6th Bn Border Regt. Does anyone have any info on this man?

Graeme

[Fred W]

I can find no E A Heavey in the 1901 census. Perhaps he was in Ireland than.

Fred

[ian turner]

I struggled to find him at first, but I think he is on SDGW and CWGC as

Edward Albert HEAVENS, L/7124 RF.

My guess is that the medal index card is wrong, but it is only a guess.

SDGW has the above chap as Born Holborn, enlisted London, resident of Blackfriars, KIA F&F 27/1/15.

Ian

[Graeme Heavey]

Thats interesting as my gt grandads entry in the medal roll has been altered. He was entered as Pte B Heavens but the e-n-s has been scribbled out and corrected.

The battalion war diary for 27 January 1915 says ' quiet day in trenches except that we had a good many casualties from snipers. Kaisers birthday '.

It would appear our poor man was shot by a sniper then?

[ian turner]

Yes, looks like the card index compiler mixed up Heavey and Heavens.

And, yes again, looks like poor Edward Albert Heavens was probably a victim of sniping.

Satisfying to sort out such mysteries, eh?

Ian

[ianw]

I note that Heavens is commemorated on the Menin gate and has no known grave. This seems a bit unusual for a sniping victim - although not impossible, I suppose.

[matchless]

Not that unusual a lot of the smaller plots dug nearer the trench's, were lost mainly due to shell fire.( i assume)

So although his original burial was marked ( another assumtion) the grave was subsequently lost, and then as the plot is not found during post war clear ups he becomes another soldier with an unknown grave.

[Graeme Heavey]

Well, sad that he did die and my gt grandad may have known him. I often think about the mens children, it chokes me up.

So he's on the Menin Gate then? Does the memorial commemorate men who fell in the surrounding area? I have no idea where it is? Ypres? Not aware of where their battalion was but obviously around there at the time!

[ian turner]

Graeme,

The Menin gate is at the town of Ypres. It is a large arch over the exit road from that town in the direction of Menin. Ypres was a fortified town from the 1600's and partially moated. The Menin Gate was the main exit from the town towards the British lines in the Ypres salient. After the war the arch was built as a memorial to those fallen in the surrounding area but have no known grave. Sobering thought is that there are some 54,000 names inscribed on the pannels under the arch, covering the period 1914-1917. There is then the Tynecot Memorial with a further (I think) 37,000 names for the period until war's end, plus also the Ploegsteert (Plugstreet) Memorial (numbers I do not recall) which covers other fallen in surrounding areas.

All with no known grave.

The Menin Gate was still being inscribed at the start of WW2.....

Ian

PS - there is a 'Last Post' bugle ceremony held every night at the Menin Gate, in respect of these fallen. A visit to the arch and this ceremony is not to be missed.

I

[Graeme Heavey]

Thanks for that Ian, I'm quietly ashamed that I did not know this already. Its not taught in schools things like this, to our lasting shame I reckon. I am going to go one day, I particularly want to visit trenches and the areas where my gt grandad served. Thats a horrific amount of lost men with no resting place. I get choked up at least once a day on this forum without fail and its come a bit earlier today. We must NEVER forget these men!

[ian turner]

Graeme,

Quite right - I am sure that is why most of the members are here!

Also it is a learning curve, and we none of us know it all.

Ian