WW1 War grave

[finpat]

Thanks for the help my grandmother got his pay book back after his death so must have been a body but no grave site. She told me that he had been wounded but was ran over by a tank whether this was true or not I do not know. But I will try and locate the area they were in on the 10th thanks again for assistance.

[Stephen Nulty]

I have updated this thread

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=157591

with some detail

[LizzieW]

I sent for a death cert from ww1 for granddad's nephew as he was missing presumed dead.  He was mentioned on the thiepval monument to the missing. His death cert was interesting, athough a date was given on the commonwealth war graves site ,when the cert came it said it had been some time since the officer had been seen and so that's why the cert was issued.  It said presumed killed somewhere in france or belgium. 

Interestingly, both the CWGC site and the death certificate I got for my g.uncle both state that he died of wounds on 24 November 1917.  If they know he died of his wounds, why is he only mentioned on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval rather than having a grave? 

[Sloe Gin]

What sometimes happened, Lizzie, is that battlefield cemeteries were overrun during subsequent fighting and the graves were lost.

[LizzieW]

Sloe Gin - Oh, so you mean he was injured, died from his wounds, was probably buried by his colleagues, then his grave lost in later fighting.  How sad.  That makes sense, because on CWGC there is now an account of the Battle of Cambrai where he died (that seems to be a recent introduction to the site).  I have been to visit the Cambrai monument which is beautiful and have photographs of it.

Of course, I never knew him, but I feel I should look after him, he became orphaned aged 8, went into an orphanage, left at 14, joined the army (before WWI), then went all through WWI until November 1917, then was killed.  There is no reference to a marriage, so I guess he remained single until his death.  My grandfather (his brother) never mentioned him or his other siblings, so no-one knew he had ever lived or died, until I started researching my family.

Lizzie

[genjen]

Lizzie,

This is what I think has happened to at least one of my great uncles. On another thread, where I have been superbly helped by martinc, he pointed out to me that the area in which my grandfather's brother was fighting was very heavily shelled, throughout the duration of the war and that many graves will have been destroyed. Any bodies found subsequently would almost certainly be unrecognisable and so those men will have ended up as names on a memorial somewhere - in my case, on the Menin Gate.

What I find quite extraordinary is that, given the total devastation of the area, so many soldiers were  buried in properly marked graves.  The work of the CWGC was, and still is, a remarkable feat. Like many others, I watched the programme on Fromelles and they have done it again. The quiet dignity of those cemeteries is very special, I think.

Jen

[finpat]

Would there be records of where the men were buried first.
Fin

[Sloe Gin]

You could try writing to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to ask if they have any additional information regarding your grandfather.