Info on Driver Edward Harris

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by Pieter F, Feb 7, 2010.

  1. Pieter F

    Pieter F Very Senior Member

    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?
     
  2. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    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
     
  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    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
     
  4. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    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
     
  5. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Now to ID the ship?
     
  6. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    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
     
  7. Pieter F

    Pieter F Very Senior Member

    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.
     
  8. Philip Reinders

    Philip Reinders Very Senior Member

    A Bergen (Noord-Holland) cemetery lies a Dieppe casualty, so it is possible

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Oldman

    Oldman Very Senior Member

    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.
     
  10. Pieter F

    Pieter F Very Senior Member

    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?
     
  11. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    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
     
  12. Pieter F

    Pieter F Very Senior Member

    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.
     
  13. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    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
     
  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Quite a bit of info on the Crested Eagle here that I put together ------> Crested Eagle
     
  15. AnnWilliams

    AnnWilliams Member

     
  16. AnnWilliams

    AnnWilliams Member

    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.
     
    Rich Payne and Drew5233 like this.
  17. AnnWilliams

    AnnWilliams Member

    I believe the boat he was being evacuated on was the Waverley.
     
    Rich Payne and Drew5233 like this.
  18. AnnWilliams

    AnnWilliams Member

    image.jpeg image.jpeg
     
  19. AnnWilliams

    AnnWilliams Member

    I have this photo, which was in my mothers effects.
     

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