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Post by Duncan sykes on Nov 8, 2005 13:02:42 GMT 1
My Great Uncle, Robert Sykes is listed on the Memorial on the WW1 panel. he was reported missing in action on July 7th 1916 serving in the Sherwood Foresters aged 22 He lived somewhere on Locko road and I was wondering if anyone has any furthet information about the Sykes's. His father was George (an insurance agent) and his mother Alice Mary
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Post by Duncan sykes on Nov 14, 2005 13:32:50 GMT 1
Nicky, any information about service in WW1 would be of help it could be that our Great-Grandfathers enlisted together Duncan Hi, I have visited this website many times but this is the first time I have used the mesage board. I left Spondon in 1984 and love to keep up with what is happening in the old village. I am very interested in two of the names on the WW1 memorial photo, which is the 2 Hooley's. I have my Great-Grandad's diaries, Francis I Hooley, who fought in the First World War, and I'm sure from those I should be able to give a little info on who these two gentlemen were, if not on more of the names on the list. I am currently typing up the diaries on the computer. If anyone is interested, or would like me to search them for any Spondon info please let me know. They start from about 1894. Nicky
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Post by Ken Porter on Nov 18, 2005 6:47:58 GMT 1
From the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
SYKES, ROBERT WILLIAM, Corporal, Service No.17197, Died 07/07/1916, Age:22, Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment), United Kingdom.
Grave reference: Pier and Face 10 C 10 D and 11 A. THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
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Post by Ken Porter on Nov 18, 2005 6:56:29 GMT 1
SYKES, ROBERT WILLIAM Initials: R W Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Corporal Regiment: Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) Unit Text: 10th Bn. Age: 22 Date of Death: 07/07/1916 Service No: 17197 Additional information: Son of George and Alice Mary Sykes, of Locko Rd., Spondon, Derby. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Pier and Face 10 C 10 D and 11 A. Cemetery: THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
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Post by Len Seale on Nov 24, 2005 0:36:25 GMT 1
Hello Ken Found your topic very interesting, attempting to putthe names in my book project. Re Antills, they are from my grandmother's side, lived on Locko Road and married my grandfather albert Seale coachman to DL Best regards Len Seale
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Post by daniel wilkinson on Nov 30, 2005 18:10:26 GMT 1
im looking for information about my grandfathers brother, Herbert Hickton 7889398 of the 1/5th Sherwood Foresters Battalion can anybody help me please.
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Post by Ken Porter on Dec 3, 2005 20:50:22 GMT 1
Albert Arthur Osborne Rank: Private Service No: 7648058 Royal Army Ordnance Corps Age: 27 Date of Death: 17/08/1943 Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead THANBYUZAYAT WAR CEMETERY Grave/Memorial Reference: B3. W. 17. The village of Thanbyuzayat is 65 kilometres from Moulmein, in Burma, and the war cemetery lies at the foot of the hills which separate the Union of Myanmar from Thailand. Those who died on the Death Railway are buried here. At present the only way in which the cemetery may be visited is by train. This is a long and uncomfortable journey and three days should be allocated. Only those in good health should attempt the journey. Prior permission is needed to travel to the cemetery, which is close to areas of unrest
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Post by Ken Porter on Jan 5, 2006 3:11:04 GMT 1
A footnote to the story of F/Sgt. Jack Coxon. We should all remember those RAF heroes who were not killed but were shot down and made prisoner-of-war for many terrible years in captivity.
A good friend recently had a couple of very interesting chats with F/Sgt Albert Elson, RAFVR, who still lives in Spondon. He says that his last 2 meetings with Jack Coxon were in1940 & 1941. In 1940 he came home on leave, by coincidence at the same time as Jack, he remembers they had one visit to the Malt Shovel for a few drinks, but says the rest of the visit is blurred....
He next met up with him on an RAF station in 1941 & is pretty sure that Jack was still then flying in Defiants. After the news that Jack was missing, his mother Ethel Coxon asked Albert if he could find out a bit more. He somehow got to Jack's station but all he could find out from other crews, was the idea that they had gone down in the sea. However, later when more data became available this was obviously wrong.
My friend spent a very informative couple of hours with Albert and heard for the first time the story of his being shot down in 1941, his escapade before capture, his interrogation by the Gestapo, his time in Stalag 344, and the time in chains there, and what happened on the enforced Long March, when they were forced by the Germans to move South to evade the Russian advance. Albert survived four years in captivity, and finished the Long March, weighing 7 and 1/2 stone, before repatriation to England. All in all, a most remarkable story.
There are probably some similar stories from ex-service Spondonians who were captured and it is to be hoped they will be collected and published here while we still have time to honour their sacrifice.
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Post by Julie Bezant on Apr 29, 2006 16:04:24 GMT 1
anyone know anything about A E Coverley, Private, 12th Btn., Highland Light Infantrywho died 29.09.1918? Are there any Coverleys still in Spondon?
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cricketer
New Member
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Post by cricketer on Apr 29, 2006 19:15:01 GMT 1
I was at school in 1938 with Richard (Dick) Coverley, whose mother kept a haberdashery and I believe was a Great War widow. I was also in Shardlow Isolation Hospital with him in 1935 when we both had scarlet fever! Ken Porter
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Post by Steve (Spondon Online) on Aug 15, 2006 16:53:52 GMT 1
Name: WATERFIELD, JOHN FRANK Initials: J F Nationality: United Kingdom Rank: Able Seaman Regiment/Service: Royal Navy Unit Text: H.M.S. Dunoon Date of Death: 30/04/1940 Service No: C/SSX 21789 Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: 36, 2. Memorial: CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL
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cricketer
New Member
Always glad to hear from Spondonians
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Post by cricketer on Mar 13, 2007 5:56:37 GMT 1
THE DEATH MARCH
In January 1945, as the Soviet armies resumed their offensive and advanced into Germany, many of the prisoners were marched westward in groups of 200 to 300 in the so-called Death March. Many of them died from the bitter cold and exhaustion. The lucky ones got far enough to the west to be liberated by the American army. The unlucky ones got "liberated" by the Soviets, who instead of turning them over quickly to the western allies, held them as virtual hostages for several more months. Many of them were finally repatriated towards the end of 1945 though the port of Odessa on the Black Sea.
The Death March was during the final months of the Second World War in Europe. About 30,000 Allied PoWs were force-marched westward across Poland and Germany in appalling winter conditions, lasting about four months from January to April 1945. It has been called various names: "The Great March West", "The Long March", "The Long Walk", "The Long Trek", "The Black March", "The Bread March", but most survivors just called it "The March". It has also been called "The Lamsdorf Death March".
As the Soviet army was advancing on Poland, the Nazis made the decision to evacuate the PoW camps to prevent the liberation of the prisoners by the Russians. During this period, also hundreds of thousands of German civilians, most of them women and children, as well as civilians of other nationalities, were making their way westward in the snow and freezing weather and many died.
January and February 1945 were among the coldest winter months of the twentieth century, with blizzards and temperatures as low as –25 °C (–13 °F), even until the middle of March temperatures were well below 0 °F (–18 °C). Most of the PoWs were ill-prepared for the evacuation, having suffered years of poor rations and wearing clothing ill-suited to the appalling winter conditions.
In most camps, the PoWs were broken up in groups of 250 to 300 men and because of the inadequate roads and the flow of battle, not all the prisoners followed the same route. The groups would march 20 to 40 kilometres a day - resting in factories, churches, barns and even in the open. Soon long columns of PoWs were wandering over the northern part of Germany with little or nothing in the way of food, clothing, shelter or medical care.
Prisoners from different camps had different experiences: sometimes the Germans provided farm wagons for those unable to walk. Seldom were horses available, so teams of PoWs pulled the wagons through the snow. Sometimes the guards and prisoners became dependent on each other, other times the guards became increasingly hostile. Passing through some villages, the residents would throw bricks and stones, and in others, the residents would share their last food. Some groups of prisoners were joined by German civilians who were also fleeing from the Russians. Some who tried to escape or could not go on were shot by guards.
With so little food they were reduced to scavenging to survive. Some were reduced to eating dogs and cats -- and even rats and grass -- anything they could lay their hands on. Already underweight from years of prison rations, some were at half their prewar body weight by the end. Because of the unsanitary conditions and a near starvation diet, hundreds of PoWs died along the way from exhaustion as well as pneumonia, diphtheria, pellagra, and other diseases. Typhus was spread by body lice. Sleeping outside on frozen ground resulted in frostbite that in many cases required the amputation of extremities. In addition to these conditions were the dangers from air attack by Allied forces mistaking the POWs for retreating columns of German troops. At a village called Gresse, 60 Allied POWs died in a "friendly-fire" situation when strafed by a flight of RAF Typhoons.
As winter drew to a close, suffering from the cold abated and some of the German guards became less harsh in their treatment of PoWs. As the columns reached the western side of Germany they ran into the advancing British and American armies. For some, this brought liberation. Others were not so lucky. They were marched towards the Baltic Sea where Nazis were said to be using PoWs as human shields and hostages. It was later estimated that a large number of PoWs had marched over five hundred miles by the time they were liberated, and some had walked nearly a thousand miles.
On 4 May 1945 RAF Bomber Command implemented Operation Exodus, and the first prisoners of war were repatriated by air in aircraft. Bomber Command flew 2,900 sorties over the next 23 days, carrying 72,500 prisoners of war.
With thanks to many sources, including Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Post by spondonian on Mar 20, 2007 21:22:02 GMT 1
I know somebody who produced a superb booklet giving the personal histories of all the men listed on their local war memorial. It looks like we've got the nucleus of something similar here. Anybody of a literary bent fancy trying to produce such a thing?
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Post by alanashby on Jul 5, 2007 20:11:58 GMT 1
Frank Stephen Ashby was my father, I was 14 months old when he died. I would appreciate any information about him from anyone still around who knew him. Thankyou
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Post by spondonian on Nov 10, 2008 19:53:32 GMT 1
I've created a page on the SCA website (www.spondonca.org.uk) with photos of the memorial and the start of some information about each of the named individuals. Initially, this is just a link to the Commonwealth War Graves entry but I've failed (so far) to identify a number of individuals. If anybody can throw some light on why they should be missing (probably a mis-transcription, either on the memorial or - more likely - the CWG website), I'd appreciate help in getting them all listed. That or any other information can be e-mailed to me via the website. Thnanks
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