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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: Maurine on Monday 25 January 10 20:06 GMT (UK)

Title: More details of casualty needed
Post by: Maurine on Monday 25 January 10 20:06 GMT (UK)
Hi All

Is there anyone out there who could tell me if it is possible to get more details on a casualty from WW2. I have a name from the CWGC site which could be a relation but there is not any family details or age listed. Does this mean that there aren't any more or that they just weren't available at the time?
Hoping someone can help me.

Maurine
Title: Re: More details of casualty needed
Post by: mmm45 on Monday 25 January 10 20:11 GMT (UK)
Maurine
There is a WW2 Roll of Honour which may give an area he was from...Its available on Ancestry if you can post a name or PM Me  ill look him up.

Ady
Title: Re: More details of casualty needed
Post by: Maurine on Monday 25 January 10 20:21 GMT (UK)
Hi Ady

Thanks for your prompt reply. The casualty in question was in the Royal Navy and the roll of honour on ancestry seems to be army. Anyway his details are:-
Leonard Frederick Matthews. Petty Officer Steward. H.M.S Jupiter.  service number D/LX21165.  died 27/02/1942.  Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Maurine
Title: Re: More details of casualty needed
Post by: ladysmith on Tuesday 26 January 10 08:46 GMT (UK)
Hi Maurine - HMS Jupiter was sunk by a mine while part of an allied cruiser force during the Battle of the Java Sea on 28/2/1942. (The discrepancy in the date is probably a clerical error). Tragivally the mine had been laid only a few hours earlier by an allied ship, the  Dutch minelayer Golden Leeuw.

HMS Jupiter had sunk a Japanese submarine on 17/1/1942.

Additional details on the CWGC site were usually provided by the families but not all families bothered to do so and some may not have been aware they could.

David
Title: Re: More details of casualty needed
Post by: mmm45 on Wednesday 27 January 10 01:24 GMT (UK)
The Roll of Honour WW2  on Ancestry is ARMY!
You could request a copy of his Service Record from MOD There may be family details in there but it will cost about £30 to get,,if you go to the Veterans agency site it gives details of how to apply.

Ady :)
Title: Re: More details of casualty needed
Post by: Maurine on Wednesday 27 January 10 21:20 GMT (UK)
Hi Ady

Thanks for your input on this. I don't think I will pay to get his details as I can't be sure that he is actually a relative. It's just that he could be because one of my great uncles was in the Royal Navy and he had a son with the same name. Unfortunately the uncle died in October 1941, he was on the HMS Pembroke. Do you know if it is possible to see the service records if you go to the national archives or the war museum?

Maurine
Title: Re: More details of casualty needed
Post by: mmm45 on Thursday 28 January 10 07:06 GMT (UK)
Hi Maurine
Because its WW2 and people who served are still alive unfortunately the records arent in the Public domain unlike WW1 records thats why you have to apply to MOD Historical disclosures.

Ady
Title: Re: More details of casualty needed
Post by: kyt on Thursday 28 January 10 10:54 GMT (UK)
the uncle died in October 1941, he was on the HMS Pembroke.

Maurine

HMS Pembroke was a shore establishment, not a ship. Is this the uncle:

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2361482

It's the only Matthews I can find who died in Oct 1941. If so then he died of illness:

http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1941-10OCT.htm

K

Title: Re: More details of casualty needed
Post by: Maurine on Friday 29 January 10 21:01 GMT (UK)
Hi K

Yes you have got the correct Matthews. He was one of my grandmother's younger brothers. I have the details of him from the CWGC site thanks. I don't think that I can go any further with this query now as I won't be sending for Leonard Frederick's service record but if Leonard was Frank Robert's son then they had two deaths in the family in a short space of time. Many thanks to everyone who has replied.

Maurine