war grave: 878012 Gunner John Brown KINNEAR, 76 Field Regiment, RA: 31/05/1940

Discussion in 'Royal Artillery' started by craigevelyn, Nov 23, 2009.

  1. craigevelyn

    craigevelyn Member

    Last year a relative told me he came across a war cemetary on the belgium / holland border where he found a stone with my uncles name on it .The village this was in had the word calais in it which i found unusual .
    My mother always said he was blown up and his body never recovered early in ww2 .I am now intrigued but can someone please tell me the full name of this village so i can make a start .My uncle was john kinnear .
     
  2. idler

    idler GeneralList

    There is only one J Kinnear listed and the details seem to tally:

    KINNEAR, JOHN BROWN 76 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
     
  3. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Geoff's Search Engine is what you need here. There's only one J Kinnear listed for 1940 :-

    https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2082405/john-brown-kinnear/
    GUNNER JOHN BROWN KINNEAR
    Service Number: 878012
    Regiment & Unit: 76 Field Regt., Royal Artillery
    Date of Death: 31 May 1940
    Age 19 years old
    Buried or commemorated at OOSTDUINKERKE COMMUNAL CEMETERY
    Grave Reference: Row E. Grave 125.
    Location: Belgium


    The grave is in Oostduinkerke which is just inside Belgium.

    If it is the correct man then he was 76th Field regiment, Royal Artillery and they were with 3rd Infantry Division which will be a good starting point for further research.
     
  4. Rob Dickers

    Rob Dickers 10th MEDIUM REGT RA

    A bit more on his Regt
    Regards Rob.



    76th (HIGHLAND) Field Regt. RA
    TA
    SP regt 9/44
    Dundee 1938 - 51 Div
    UK 1939-40 - 51 (Highland) Div
    France 1940 - 51 & 3 Inf Divs
    UK 1940-4 - 3 Inf Div
    D-Day 6/44 - 3 Inf Div
    NW Europe 1944-5 - 3 Inf Div

    Batteries
    3 Sep 39, 303(City of Dundee), 302(Fife)
    Jan 40, 302,304(1)
    Feb 45, 302,303,454.

    Equipment
    Sep 39 18 pdr
    Jun 44 M7 Priest, Sherman OP
     
  5. idler

    idler GeneralList

  6. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    As Rob says, they were originally with the Territorial 51st Division but were exchanged with the regular 23rd Field regt of 3rd Division as part of the steps taken during March 1940 to reinforce the Territorial divisions. He would have been with 3rd Division when Germany entered Belgium and France on 10th May.

    What a co-incidence that this should crop up just as the 'climate change' cemeteries are being discussed.
     
  7. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Thank Verrieres for the clue in the CWGC and Climate Change thread:

    [​IMG]

    Also posted in the Royal Artillery Roll of Honour thread.

    A good evening's work...

    Well done Idler. I was just looking through my list of photos and saw you'd already found it. Nice one.

    Regards - Robert.
     
  8. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    That picture looks familiar :lol:

    Craig you are lucky to have the picture as that cemetery was closed (ish) for gardening purposes. They were in the process of laying new turf and flowers.

    After travelling all the way from Yorkshire it would have been rude not to get my GF's Uncles best friends grave (A South Lancs Regt. chap who were fighting together but sadly only one of them came home). Anyway I took the opportunity to photograph all the Arty ones from Rob :D
     
  9. craigevelyn

    craigevelyn Member

    thanks everybody - when i said it had calais in the town i meant dunkirk i was close .My family are amazed at you guys knowledge .I should have done this years ago .The grave must be the one i was looking for .Once again many thanks .
     
  10. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    thanks everybody - when i said it had calais in the town i meant dunkirk i was close .My family are amazed at you guys knowledge .I should have done this years ago .The grave must be the one i was looking for .Once again many thanks .

    Sometimes we amaze me too !:)
     
  11. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    If you have a photo of your great-uncle's grave then it is officially recorded as it is not an unknown soldier's grave.

    I think it was always recorded by the CWGC however only not known by the family.
     
  12. craigevelyn

    craigevelyn Member

    After all these years i applied for john kinnear's medals as nobody else knew anything about them .
    I opened jiffy bag from postman this morning to find two brand new medals .
    After all this time from 1940 .
    Just the two common one's but no defence medal .One is a star but cannot remember which one as they are up attic already .
    Going to add them to my family collection of my dad and two grandads .
    Now i need to find photo posted on here of his gravestone . I cannot find it .
     
  13. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

Share This Page