RootsChat.Com
General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: Ellen on Thursday 26 October 06 18:29 BST (UK)
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Private Henry Coopey (9733. 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment) was my great uncle and he died (aged 18) in a German prisoner of war camp in Kriegs-notizbuch (my father gave me this spelling and it may be incorrect). He wrote letters home to his mother telling of his plight (he lost both legs) and these letters we still have. He died a week or so later and is commemorated on a special memorial (28) in Courtral (St Jean) cemetary in Belgium but apparently this is not where he is buried. My father has tried with little success to find out where his grave is.
Is he likely to be succesful, especially since many records were destroyed in the blitz?
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The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website which lists the details of Henry Coopey states of KORTRIJK (ST. JAN) COMMUNAL CEMETERY
'There are now 221 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 11 of the burials are unidentified, and there are special memorials to more than 30 casualties who died in 1914-15 and were buried in the Germans plot but whose graves could not be found....
Courtrai (now Kortrijk) was in German hands for most of the First World War.'
Therefore it would seem the records for the burials would only be German records and I'm sure the Commonwealth War Graves Commission did after the First World War try to identify the whereabouts of the 30 British casualties buried by the Germans amongst the German graves. The information does appear to state that Henry was believed to be buried in the cemetery, so the CWGC must have found some records to that effect, even though they were not able to pinpoint his exact grave.
COOPEY, HENRY
Initials: H
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment/Service: Gloucestershire Regiment
Unit Text: 1st Bn.
Age: 18
Date of Death: 28/01/1915
Service No: 9733
Additional information: Son of Henry and Esther Coopey, of 35, Morton St., Gloucester.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Sp. Mem. 28.
Cemetery: KORTRIJK (ST. JAN) COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Have you contacted the CWGC? Really if they don't know, nobody does - that after all is what they do and what they were established for.
http://www.cwgc.org/
Regards
Valda
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Many thanks Valda. I believe that my father did contact the CWGC, which is where he got the above information from. Still, thanks for your reply.
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the CWGC didnt bury any soldiers in ww1,the army did that,the CWGC are only chartered to care for and maintain the graves in their care,their website is not part of their charter but they set it up to aid people in their search for loved ones,your g/father is buried in the cemetery,but they cant locate the exact position,so a special memorial was erected,the germans buried many allied POWs without keeping a record of their graves,many were not even marked,mack
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Thanks Mack and Valda, this all makes much more sense to me now. My father got a little confused, he seemed to think that Henry Coopey was a prisoner of war in Germany and that being the case I couldn't understand why he was commemorated in a Belgium cemetary. It makes sense now knowing that Belgium was in German hands. He has a couple of letters from Henry Coopey, written to his mother whilst he was in POW hospital. It tells of how he lay on the battle field for many days in agony - it is very moving and had my daughter in tears. I feel that this poor lad, who died at 18, should have his story told. Maybe his photo, which we have, and his letters should be posed on some website for the world to see.
Thanks again.
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I am sending the details of my great uncle, including his last letter home to the Passchendaele Museum which has requested soldiers details
http://www.passchendaele.be/eng/archivesEN.html
this would not be relevant for your great uncle because this museum commerated the battle of Passchendaele in 1917 but I am sure there are other museums who would be interested. The Imperial War Museum website
http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/prisoners/essay.asp
I'm sure other people can suggest other possibilities.
Regards
Valda
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Cheltenham & Gloster Graphic 27 Feb. 1915 (just in case you don't have it)
Steve
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Many thanks, Steve. I believe that my father does have that photo but thank you for sending posting it. For anyone interested I am attempting to post a letter that Henry Coopey wrote before he was taken prisoner. It is very hard to read in places so I have written it out as follows -
Dear Mother and Father
Just these few lines hoping this will find you all in the best of health as it leaves me in the pink at present. Dear Mother I do not know whether you have wrote but I have not received one yet. I have wrote 4 or 5 letters and PC. Would you mind sending me some Woodbines as we cannot get any here. We have been having some fine weather up until now. I hope all have got plenty of work at home.
Well I think I have said all for the present.
I remain your loving son Harry. xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Just following on for anyone who might be interested.
Henry Coopey was captured in November 1914. My late great aunt (one of his sisters) told my father that Henry was injured in both legs and likely had them amputated. He wrote from hospital in November and died of his wounds on 28 January 1915. Clearly he suffered for quite some time and he was only 18!
His writing is hard to make out, not surprisingly, but it reads as follows -
"I got wounded on 6th of Nov and went into hospital on 15 Nov and I am still in here now but I hope I shall soon be leaving."
Sadly he didn't leave there alive.
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Should anyone be interested, there is a little more to this story. The Citizen newspaper intends to print an article about my great uncle for remembrance Sunday. They have been to see my parents and have all the details. However they contacted the Gloucestershire Regimental Museum today and gained more information. Henry Coopey actually had one of his feet blown off but he didn't die of his injuries. He died of typhus. Very sad.
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I've come back to the story of Henry Coopey as it's Remembrance Sunday. So sad that he should die at the age of 18. Especially poignant for me now as I notice that Henry signed himself Harry which is the name Henry's brother, who I think was my Grandfather William Coopey, gave to my father. My small son is also called Harry.
Regards all
Chris Coopey
The Soldier.
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
Rupert Brooke
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Hi Chris
Lovely to hear from you. My mother just remarked that she's always sad on Remembrance Sunday. She vividly recalls all the lost soldiers she used to serve pints to in the pub. Such a waste of young lives. 18 is far too young to die, but poor Henry was just one of thousands. He won't be forgotten though.
That is a moving poem. Always thought so.
Take care
Ellen
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Thanks Ellen,
Good to catch up. Take care.
Kind regards to your family
Chris
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Hi Chris,
Perhaps a long shot here, but would you have in you family tree a marriage of Charles Coopey to Mary Kilty (my ancestor) 24th July 1862 Westbury on Severn, Mary and Charles had 12 children, mostly born in the Huntley area. She died 19th June 1926 Westbury on Severn.
I registered with the Forest of Dean site and although I saw quite a lot of postings for the Coopey name, these were old posts so no reply's so far, but a lot of help with the Coopey family info from one of the members, including probate records etc.
Kind Regards
Glencoe