Genealogy Chat

Does anyone know if servicemen who died of fever (flu) in the First world war are counted as war casualties? My g uncle is said by the family to have contracted flu in France whilst fighting for his country, returned to England but subsequently died of flu within a few days. He appears on the British War Graves site as a casualty of WW1 though, so does this mean he died of wounds? Any help would be much appreciated.

Chris

I think they would be yes - I suppose the illness could be attributed to their war service.

The CWGC site http://www.cwgc.org/ (under search - help) says: "The Register provides basic commemorative information about men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars and the places where they are buried or commemorated. It also lists Commonwealth civilians who died during the Second World War as a result of enemy action."

http://www.remembering.org.uk/cwgc_amendments.htm is the site of a group that is correcting some typos at the CWGC - it looks to me like they've accessed the casualty's record, and so know the cause of death. There's several cases listed where the c.o.d. is illness or accident, i.e., non-battle casualties.

In WW1, you were twice as likely to be a (usually non-fatal) non-battle casualty than a battle casualty at Gallipoli, and twice as likely to be a non-battle fatality than a battle fatality in East Africa.


So to answer Chris's question, they would be war casualties if they died in uniform for whatever cause (I suppose executions for desertion would be excluded, although it's clear to me that in a number of those cases, they're just as much a casualty as the more regular cases). If they died post war thru 31/8/1921, then things get a bit trickier, but they might still be an official UK casualty; after that, no.

I think the answer is yes especially if he died in a military hospital, have you done a search on the CWGC site?

Yes, my great grandfather died in France in 1918 of influenza.

He is remembered on the CWGC website and his death indexed in the relevant GRO index of Army deaths - allowing me to get a copy of his death certificate from the GRO.

Pete

Thankyou to all of the kind people who have helped me with this question. Someone local is compiling a booklet about the WW1 casualties buried in the burial ground of the town. My g uncle is to be included, which is really nice.

Best wishes

Chris