I am looking for information on Driver E. Harris (T 124059), burried at Rockanje General Cemetery, Holland. He would be drowned at Dunkirk and washed ashore at Rockanje. Can anybody help me finding out if this is true and tell me more about this man?
Name: HARRIS, EDWARD WILLIAM CHARLES Initials: E W C Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Driver Regiment/Service: Royal Army Service Corps Age: 22 Date of Death: 29/05/1940 Service No: T/124059 Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 2. Grave 31. Cemetery: ROCKANJE (ZEEWEG) GENERAL CEMETERY
Here's his Cert: CWGC :: Certificate You could apply for his Service Records and see if they contain any information. What makes you think he drowned at Dunkirk? Does anyone know (I suspect it never happened at all if not in part) if there are any lists of whats ships evacuated what personnel off the beaches? Cheers A
The Army ROH, indicates that he was born and lived in South East London, and that he died at Sea. That means that someone saw him aboard a ship. Name: Edward Harris Given Initials: E W C Rank: Driver Death Date: 29 May 1940 Number: 124059 Birth Place: London SE Residence: London SE Branch at Enlistment: Other Corps Theatre of War: At sea Regiment at Death: Royal Army Service Corps Branch at Death: Other Corps
BIRTH DETAILS Name: Edward W C Harris Mother's Maiden Surname: Ruddy Date of Registration: Jan Feb Mar 1918 Registration district: St Olave Registration county: Greater London PARENTS MARRIAGE Name: Edward Thomas Harris Spouse: Edith Ethel Ruddy Father: Edward Harris Birth: abt 1885 Marriage: 23 Sep 1916 - Southwark, Middlesex Appears to have been an only child
What makes you think he drowned at Dunkirk? That's what I am told years ago. But I do not know if this is correct.
Definatly possible if you look at the routes the Royal Navy laid out to get the ships into and out of Dunkirk and the beaches to avoid the sunken vessels any craft/ship going down in the channel just off the coast is subject to the tides. It is possible that his body was dragged along by the tide then inshore and left high and dry by the ebb tide thus leaving him to be found/recovered by the locals.
Definatly possible if you look at the routes the Royal Navy laid out to get the ships into and out of Dunkirk and the beaches to avoid the sunken vessels any craft/ship going down in the channel just off the coast is subject to the tides. How far north were these routes approx.? The Army ROH, indicates that he was born and lived in South East London, and that he died at Sea. That means that someone saw him aboard a ship. Do you mean you have been to be seen at a ship if you died at sea? That description wasn't used for people who drowned while trying to get aboard and washed ashore for example?
Route Y was the furthest EAST of the three main evacuation routes from the beaches. The ships headed towards the UK after reaching the Kwinte Whistle Bouy. The trouble would be identifying what ship he was on 29th, without checking there would have been a few sunk. However quite a few soldiers were put over the side after dying on ships and some drowned wading out to ships. Regards Andy
What makes you think he drowned at Dunkirk? It is also mentioned in a book about Rockanje in oorlogstijd (war-time). Somebody from the identificationdepartment from the Dutch Air Force is mentioned as source for this information.
47,310 Troops were lifted from the harbour and beaches on the 29th May. Ships lost on the 29th May were: HM Ships sunk: Destroyers - HMS's Wakeful, Grafton and Grenade. Armed Boarding Vessel King Orry. Special Service Vessel Crested Eagle. Paddle Minesweepers Waverley and Gracie Fields. Personnel Vessels Normania, Lorina, Fenella, and Mona's Queen. Trawlers Polly Johnson and Calvi. Danlayers Comfort and Nautilus and the Drifer Girl Pamela. Other Ships: ALC 16, the SS Clan Macalister, the M/B's Minikoi, Viewfinder, Bobeli, Hanora, Sceneshifter and Queen of England. One tug, the Sun V was damaged and put out of action. Info sourced from 'The Evacuation from Dunkirk' I guess without his service records Pieter your guess is as good as anyones at this stage. Regards Andy
Hi Just seen your mail. Edward Harris was the son of my great aunt Edie, my grandmother's nephew and my mother's first cousin. I do not have any first-hand information about him only what I have been told. He was an only child and his mother was a widow having also lost her husband during the war.