Hi, Just looking through this Scots Guards officer’s service papers on FMP - Casualty Details | CWGC There is mention in correspondence between the Regiment and his widow that Captain Gurowski was one of a handful of officers sent from Scots Guards Holding Battalion at The Tower of London across the Channel “to assist in the evacuation of troops from the Dunkirk beaches”. I’m aware no Scots Guards Battalions were with BEF. He was killed when the ship (Destroyer) on which he was returning to England was bombed. His papers say he was buried in Dover but CWGC says he was reinterred in Berkshire. Does anyone have any knowledge of any organised body of troops /officers being sent across to Dunkirk as described above? Steve
Hi Steve, Capt Gurowski's grave is located at St Peter Churchyard Woolhampton, West Berkshire Unitary Authority, Berkshire, England. Plot S.E. corner. Grave 1008. Son of Count Gurowski and of Countess Gurowski (nee von Essen); husband of Countess Gurowski (nee Haig-Thomas), of West Amesbury, Wiltshire. He seems to have been buried in a family plot. Regards Bruneval
Richard Dudley Melchior Gurowski 1910–1940 BIRTH 9 JAN 1910 • Newbury, Berkshire, England DEATH 2 JUN 1940 • Dunkerque, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 Name: Male Gurowski Registration Date: Apr 1940 [May 1940] [Jun 1940] Registration Quarter: Apr-May-Jun Registration District: Dover Inferred County: Kent Volume: 2a Page: 3134 UK, Army Roll of Honour, 1939-1945 Name: Richard Gurowski Given Initials: R D M Rank: Captain Death Date: 2 Jun 1940 Number: 47565 Birth Place: Berkshire Residence: Reading Regiment at Enlistment: Scots Guards Branch at Enlistment: Foot Guards Theatre of War: France and Belgium Campaign, 1939/40 Regiment at Death: Scots Guards Branch at Death: Foot Guards 1939 England and Wales Register Name: Richard D Gurowski Gender: Male Marital Status: Married Birth Date: 9 Jan 1910 Residence Year: 1939 Address: Rose Cottage Bray Residence Place: Cookham, Berkshire, England Line Number: 27 Schedule Number: 183 Sub Schedule Number: 1 Enumeration District: DUED Borough: Cookham Registration district: 123/1 Shows him as a Captain Royal Scots Guards TD
I thought the RN Beach Masters - Officers did a lot of the work on the beaches, mustering troops and loading the ships etc. Interesting to note other officers were sent over to assist, like Capt.Gurowski. RIP.
From this account, it looks more likely that they volunteered to cross over with their small boat... From A Soldier's Story, JOE Vandeleur 47565 Richard Dudly Melchior GUROWSKI , Scots Guards 41157 Michael David Charles HANBURY-TRACY, 1 Scots Guards
Hi Diane, Don’t think either of them went over to assist as volunteers......I think the small boat would’ve been one of the many commandeered for use at Dunkirk without the participation of the owners as crew. Hanbury Tracy went to BEF as Brigade Major 9th Infantry Brigade in mid May 1940 and was badly wounded by bombing at Dunkirk and died from his wounds in August 1940. I doubt SG would have allowed several experienced officers to go overseas “freelancing” from the Holding Battalion, Tower of London - more likely there under orders although Gurowski’s file doesn’t contain any “orders” about his, and his fellow officers, despatch to Dunkirk. If I find any more as I go through further service records I will post further. Steve
I’ve found another contemporary mention of the death of Captain Gurowski in a Scots Guards service record. In a letter, dated 4th June 1940, from the Regimental Adjutant to a SG officer recently posted to 161 OCTU (RMC Sandhurst) breaking the news of the death of Captain Gurowski the adjutant comments that he was one of 4 SG officers sent to help with the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk. Steve
