Solved...well done...a Coastal Command fatality.I see that No 224 Squadron was based at Beaulieu at the time and would have been among the first RAF units to be based there after Beaulieu opened in August 1942. I also note no NOK indicated which is all too prevalent but it appears that F/S Hunt was interred in the vicinity of RAF Beaulieu. Within wartime Britain,the NOK was given the right to chose the burial location and many were interred as such with some interred at a burial ground as convenient for the military unit.F/S Hunt may have had some connection with the area but the chances are that he did not. There are 25 military casualties interred at Boldre Churchyard,the majority are RAF and some RCAF which suggests that Boldre was the convenient burial ground for Beaulieu casualties interred local to RAF Beaulieu. Incidentally the CWGC record casualties no matter what the circumstances of death and commitment are, including numbers of the missing,ie, those without a known grave.Unknown casualties are usually remembered by a record on an official memorial.
Thanks for that-I know they do a great job,cleaning markers in local graveyards as well as the better known military cemeteries and had (wrongly) assumed that was the limit of their remit-good to know.
Harry, I posted the loss details for the following airman, see post #17 not our mystery man - F/S. Edward C. Hunt, the search continues.......
Peter ...thanks for pointing that out ....it must be a Monday morning senile event....too many channels open,at least that's my excuse
No problem Harry. I think I contributed to the confusion. Anyway, I get days like that all week, not just a Monday
It may be that F/S E C Hunt, died outside the CWGC qualifying period of 3 September 1939-31 December 1947. His remembrance on the war memorial might be associated to a marriage locally..
I doo appreciate the effort you're all putting in on this. It would be interesting to know when, exactly, the memorial was erected. That's something the Church or the Parish Council might know.
I attach the text of an e-mail from the Parish Council Chair: it answers the questions of the date of the memorial (and therefore of Hunt's 'eligibility' for CWGC commemoration), and one or two other points. Again, many thanks to all - I suppose the search continues! Thanks for your post and through you to all the people who have tried to help Sadly they have come up with nothing that I haven't already found. I fond the men they suggest and traced families back but can find no clear connection with fair oak. The men also don't match exactly the wording on the plaque - although this may be wrong of course, so I dare not write about him unless I am 100% sure. Just to answer a few of the points - one of your contributors suggests he and Davidson were 'add ons' to the memorial. They weren't as Davidson's father organised the plaque, names and opening and he wouldn't have forgotten his son. The plaque was erected before 1947 so Hunt wasn't past the deadline for being entered or put on at the last moment. Someone else attaches a link to the new memorial we erected last year with Horne's name on, and says we have omitted Anderson. Anderson is on the same new plaque. I have trawled every newspaper locally in the archives for any thing about him and drawn a blank. I am hopeful that as new records come out of being locked I may be able to trace him through the village and not via war sites. Thank you so much for helping - there must be an answer out there somwehere and if we find out more then I will let you know.
Gonzo Thank you for the update. i have taken photos of many war memorials across the UK (as have other forum members) unfortunately this issue of a name on a memorial that cannot be matched or traced is not rare. I am sure with this active thread that one day a goggle hit will bring someone here who can add more info. Regards Clive
Yes,thanks for the update. It would appear that since F/S E C Hunt's validity for CWGC recognition has been confirmed by the PC,by the fact that he died before the end of the qualifying date,I wonder if this is one of the cases where a casualty has not been added to the CWGC records. I have the gut feeling that F/S Hunt may well have a connection to Fair Oak by marrying locally....its a question of further looking for this connection and it might well be that older people in the area might be able to furnish details of this.
Following on from Harrys thoughts I have searched the database for marriages between 1935 and 1945 for Hunt marrying in Hampshire, now some of these may or may not be in the exact area but I guess the Parish Council can verify from their records or from the records of the Church - here goes: Name: Edward C Hunt (according to a family tree he died in 1982) Spouse Surname: Rickman Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1937 Registration district: New Forest Inferred County: Hampshire Volume Number: 2b Page Number: 2053 Name: Edward Hunt (according to a family tree born 1909, in Lancs - no death recorded) Spouse Surname: Bone Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1935 Registration district: Petersfield Inferred County: Hampshire Volume Number: 2c Page Number: 495 Name: Edward B Hunt (No further details available) Spouse Surname: Hankin Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1941 Registration district: Winchester Inferred County: Hampshire Volume Number: 2c Page Number: 420 Name: Edward J W Hunt (On a family tree but no further details apart from marriage) Spouse Surname: Arm Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1935 Registration district: Gosport Inferred County: Hampshire Volume Number: 2b Page Number: 1057 Name: Edward J Hunt (No further details available) Spouse Surname: Cox Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1940 Registration district: Winchester Inferred County: Hampshire Volume Number: 2c Page Number: 465 Name: Edward J Hunt (No further details available) Spouse Surname: Cherry Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1944 Registration district: Isle of Wight Inferred County: Hampshire Volume Number: 2b Page Number: 1467 I have included all the Edwards, as sometimes through transcribing their other initials etc may not be correct, but as there are only 6 I think that may have narrowed the field some. Perhaps from the registration district it could be narrowed further TD
Interesting. The Winchester Registration ones would be the more likely, as (as I think I mentioned), Fair Oak would have been in the old Winchester RDC area. I'll pass them on to the PC.
Not sure if this will help but has anyone thought of asking the CWGC direct? If not and its thought it would help I can give them a call on Monday and ask for their advice. They are just down the road from where I live.
Numpty question - has anyone checked Chorley, Franks etc? I don't own any of the books but I remember checking a couple and there was an index of names. If a FSGT E. Hunt appears that doesn't match anything on CWGC then we might have our uncommemorated individual. Long shot but nothing to lose. I know those books don't cover every wartime RAF casualty but they cover a decent percentage of them. Also (and this might already be in the thread somewhere), in my little bit of research into RAAF casualties I came across a few cases where personnel were discharged to go home due to a severe illness such as TB. When they died shortly afterwards they were not eligible for CWGC because they neither died during service or for war-related causes within the eligibility period. That is, if they died due to their wounds following discharge and prior to the cut-off date they were eligible, but if it was from an illness they contracted and they died following discharge then they weren't.
