Unknown British soldier's body found on Monte Spaduro

Now supposed to be April.....

 

& then probably October. Six month intervals. My thoughts are with you both & keep going in your Lady cave .

Stu.

 

Has he now been laid to rest, Janet, or still delayed?

 

Postponed until late April 2022, I am told.

The date will be set early next year.

 

Thank you.

 

At last.

The burial will take place on 27 April in Bologna War Cemetery.

Vitellino

 

Caubeens duly tipped.

 

Living in Bologna it was my duty to be there but family reasons prevent me from being there. Very sorry.

 

Unfortunately I won't be there and neither will my friend who found him - he is blocked in China, where he works.

 

This thread started on the June 4, 2015. What next? Painfull.

 

Unfortunately there are several others (se earlier posts) who were missing after actions on Monte Spaduro during the winter 44-45 whose bodies have not been found. I understand that there were a number of deserters too, but don't have access to this information.

What I would like from the MOD, but won't get access to, is an updated list of all the possibilities I sent them which tells me whether or not they were investigated and what the outcome was.

Here are the four from the original list I sent them.

Winder and Muldoon were eliminated on DNA grounds. I have no idea whether Johnstone and Evans were ever followed up.

Vitellino

 

shame indeed… we plan to be at Mt Spaduro on 5th July and perhaps will stop by Bologna cemetery. Will also visit Santerno Valley CWGC where some of his mates will rest.

 

Despite so much great effort, the reburial took place yesterday (27th April 2022) without a name being added to the final resting place.
Unknown World War Two soldier buried with military honours in Italy | CWGC

 

Thanks for posting the article Richard. I will send it to the person who found him

 

I managed to be present on 04/27/2022 at the ceremony. It was a commitment that I had made and I was able to fulfill it.

THE LAST POST

 

Well, folks,

We're not finished with this one yet.

Back in 2021 the MOD told me that if something new cropped up they would reopen the case.

There is one candidate (if that's the right word, or should it be contender) on the Cassino Memorial whom I discarded as the Missing Men file for the Northants put him in 2 Regiment.

My friend who found the casualty keeps pestering me to search again and this time I gave in. I checked the candidate in the British Army Casualty Lists and he was 5 Northants, which makes a huge difference. They were fighting just to the east of 1 East Surreys in or near the gully where the casualty was found.

Here's the extract from WO 417/94



His age would tie with that indicated by the result of the DNA test on the body. Six men I put forward as possibilties had to be ruled out due to their age. I have decided not put his name on the forum yet.

Here's hoping. I just need to get a copy of the 5 Northants October-November War Diary for 1944 before I make a submission,

That's all for now,

Vitellino

 

I assume you're looking at the man carried off by the Germans following the patrol on 13th.

 

Thank you so much Gary. The man seen being carried off by the Germans is almost certainly the man who is described as 'wounded and missing believed prisoner of war now presumed died of wounds' in WO 417/94.

EDITED: MAP REMOVED

 

More on the pond:


https://maps.app.goo.gl/He6MDwKB4H836MW69

 

German positions or 98. ID on 31st October (the map references are 0229 and 0426) so in a rough semi-circle on the east side of Monte Spaduro