3 Tranmere Rovers footballers

Hi All

Im hoping someone may have info on any of these 3 men. All played for Tranmere Rovers FC and served and died during WW2.

Stanley Holbrook Docking (Royal Air Force - died 27/05/1940)
DOB: 13th December 1914
Registered with the Club: 21st May 1938 (Professional)
Previous Club: Newcastle United
From Rovers moved to: Hartlepool United Seasons: 1938-39
Position: Inside Left
Appearances: 31 First Team
Goals: 7 First Team

Killed on active service: 27th May 1940 (how unknown – pilot?)


Aircraftman 983581 2nd Class, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Buried at WHITLEY BAY (HARTLEY SOUTH) CEMETERY, ENGLAND.

CWGC entry CWGC :: Certificate

Ernest Davies
DOB: Unknown.
Registered with the Club: 27th November 1936 (Professional)
Previous Club: Heswall (local non-league)
From Rovers moved to: Bangor City
Seasons: 1936-37 to 1942-43
Position: Right Half
Appearances: 45 First Team
Goals: 1 First Team

Killed on active service 17th August 1942 (how unknown?)


Served as Corporal 3657586 with 1st Battalion of The King's own Royal Regiment ( Lancaster )

Son of Edward and Mary Davies, of Heswall, Cheshire.

Listed on the Alemein Memorial, Egypt

CWGC entry CWGC :: Certificate

Aged 26 at death so born about 1915/16.






Keith Haimes

DOB: Unknown
Registered with the Club: 29th October 1940 (Amateur)
Previous Club: Unknown
Seasons: 1940-41 to 1944-45
Position: Unknown (no current records)
Appearances: Unknown (no current records)
Goals: Unknown (no current records)

Killed in action 1944-45



CWGC :: Certificate

I will try the Regiments and dates to see if I can see what they where doing at time of death.

Cheers

Tony

 

Tony,
I'll look into Haimes in the 5th Wilts war diary tonight when I get home from work.


Thanks Owen

 

Im sure I know where to find a photo of the headstone for Haimes, if you need a copy

 

Ref Docking

Monday 27th May 1940 saw no enemy action over the mainland according to 'The Blitz-Then and Now'

 

In Memory of
Lance Serjeant KEITH ARMISTICE THEOBOLD HAIMES

4034060, 5th Bn., Wiltshire Regiment
who died age 22
on 02 October 1944
Son of Jack and Jessica Haimes; husband of Kathleen Haimes, of Dorchester, Dorset.
Remembered with honour
GROESBEEK CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY




SOURCE : Flickr Photo Download: IMG_8639

 

Stanley Holbrook Docking (Royal Air Force - died 27/05/1940)

Listed as Died on Active Service in Flight magazine July 4th 1940.

Death of a Stanley H Docking age 25 registered in Newcastle T.* district for Q2 1940.


Possibly through illness or accident.

 

Thank you all for the help. You are Amazing. Plenty here for me to get on with. And the photo is great. Any idea why Haimes is in a Canadian Cemetery ( am I reading it wrong? )

I will be passing what can be found onto Tranmere Rovers FC who are keen to add details to their archives. May I pass on some of the info members have posted here and Phil can i send them the headstone photo please.

Thanks again. You lot work fast

Cheers

Tony

 

From 5th Wilts War Diary from The Wardrobe.



If you follow the link below you will find a map that covers the area mentioned in the war diary extract that Owen posted.

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/other-research/18634-location-laar-farm-elst-netherlands-3.html

The following is taken from the CWGC website and should explain why Haimes is buried at Groesbeek.

Allied forces entered the Netherlands on 12 September 1944. Airborne operations later that month established a bridgehead at Nijmegen and in the following months, coastal areas and ports were cleared and secured, but it was not until the German initiated offensive in the Ardennes had been repulsed that the drive into Germany could begin. Most of those buried in GROESBEEK CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY were Canadians, many of whom died in the Battle of the Rhineland, when the 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Divisions and the 4th Canadian Armoured Division took part in the drive southwards from Nijmegen to clear the territory between the Maas and the Rhine in February and March 1945. Others buried here died earlier or later in the southern part of the Netherlands and in the Rhineland. The cemetery contains 2,610 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, and nine war graves of other nationalities. Within the cemetery stands the GROESBEEK MEMORIAL, which commemorates by name more than 1,000 members of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaign in north-west Europe between the time of crossing the Seine at the end of August 1944 and the end of the war in Europe, and whose graves are not know.
Depending on which Company Haimes served with I may have more information for you.

Nick

 

Fine by me A, but the credit, goes to the tog, who you can access through the link.


I only looked at the thread, as I couldnt understand Tranmere and football in the same sentance