Genealogy Chat

I know my great uncle died in WW2. I have found his records, he was a Gunner. Died 1943. Does anyone know if it is possible to find out the story of his regiment/ his demise? We have mixed tales within the family that's all. many thanks

Hi

This topic comes up on the boards from time to time. Have a look at this thread (copy and paste the reference into your browser)

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.asp?wci=thread&tk=1162270

Or if you've got the information already about which regiment he was in, most regiments have a regimental museum where you might find information. If the regiment no longer exists as such you will need to find out which one it was amalgamated with and/or what the present name is.

If his actual rank was 'Gunner', he was in the Royal Artillery.

Visit "worldwar 2 talk".........a free site with many "old soldiers"

if you find the record on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website at www.cwgc.org then you may find out more information about the cemetery he is buried in, sometimes this can tell you about the particular battle

you will probably also find his regiment and service number on this site and you could google to see what you can find out about what they were doing at the time he died

thanks. He is on a memorial face 7 Madjez el bab. not sure if he is buried there though. The grave in our photo has no features just obv in the desert.
World war 2 talk is a great site, would recommend it to all.

Don't know how useful this is, but this is the historical info from the CWGC site on the Medjez el bab cemetery:

In May 1943, the war in North Africa came to an end in Tunisia with the defeat of the Axis powers by a combined Allied force. The campaign began on 8 November 1942, when Commonwealth and American troops made a series of landings in Algeria and Morocco. The Germans responded immediately by sending a force from Sicily to northern Tunisia, which checked the Allied advance east in early December. In the south, the Axis forces defeated at El Alamein withdrew into Tunisia along the coast through Libya, pursued by the Allied Eighth Army. By mid April 1943, the combined Axis force was hemmed into a small corner of north-eastern Tunisia and the Allies were grouped for their final offensive. Medjez-el-Bab was at the limit of the Allied advance in December 1942 and remained on the front line until the decisive Allied advances of April and May 1943. The MEDJEZ-EL-BAB MEMORIAL commemorates almost 2,000 men of the First Army who died during the operations in Algeria and Tunisia between 8 November 1942 and 19 February 1943, and those of the First and Eighth Armies who died in operations in the same areas between 20 February 1943 and 13 May 1943, and who have no known graves. The memorial stands within MEDJEZ-EL-BAB WAR CEMETERY where 2,903 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War are buried or commemorated. 385 of the burials are unidentified. Special memorials commemorate three soldiers buried in Tunis (Borgel) Cemetery and one in Youks-les-Bains Cemetery, whose graves are now lost. The five First World War burials in Medjez-el-Bab War Cemetery were brought in from Tunis (Belvedere) Cemetery or in Carthage (Basilica Karita) Cemetery in 1950.