668NextDoor

I have this myself. IIRC there was also a second volume of cartoons from the same guys, although I do not have that one.

There was an Indian Mule Company with the BEF in France. They were evacuated to Britain in 1940 and, as far as I know, spent the rest of the war doing mountain training, much alongside the Norwegians and the 52nd (Lowland) Division - Britains only mountain trained division that first went into action in a flooded and flat Holland. Maybe this man got the F & G for 1940 and later joined the Indian Electrical & Mechanical Engineers? I think that the British REME was not formed before about 1942, so the IEME would not have been formed earlier than that. My fathers cousin was in the IEME in Burma towards the end of the war. They had European officers and some European NCOs, he was a Sgt.

You could very well be right. There are 5,092 Commonwealth casualties buried at Brookwood. Of course, you need to "take away" the WW1 dead but if you, or anyone else, has a lot of spare time it ought to be possible to find out for sure. Make a list of the named Canadian soldiers and remove those who died of wounds in August 1942. A problem could be that, without individual research, is no way of knowing if a man died 3 months after being wounded at Dieppe or stepped under a London bus in the blackout: http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_report...4400&mode=1 In the case of the missing, those without a known grave, it is easier to work out who died at Dieppe, and who didn't. One example: http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_detail...asualty=2145008 Here is the complete list of the 3,450 names on the Brookwood Memorial: http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_report...2400&mode=1 In the case of the RCAF there would be no way of knowing from the simple facts given if the men were killed in training accidents or as aircrew in flying operations.For example, what were175 (RAF) Squadron doing on 6th October 1943? http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_detail...asualty=2761607

I have had a little think about it and remembered where I read about Turks training with the RAF in WW2: "From there I was posted to Cranwell in Lincolnshire, where I serviced aircraft used to train Turkish Air Force pilots. Some of the same pilots had also received training from the Luftwaffe! Once, one of the Turks, flying a Miles Master, overshot the runway on landing, hit a wall and overturned. The aircraft was completely written off, but he was unhurt." Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/46/a5129246.shtml

Are they troops or are they airmen? If they are troops I have no idea what they were doing in the UK in WW2. There would be Turkish soldier POWs who died in England in WW1, but not in WW2. If they are airmen I did come across a reference to Turkish aircrew training with the RAF, but I can't remember where exactly. I suspect that these are the graves of Turkish aircrew killed, not in action, but whilst training with the RAF. A higher % of aircrew were killed whilst training than is usually realised. Anyone know more?

I managed to crop part of this pic to make it small enough to post. I think there is enough left to give an idea of what was being held for his nok. Imagine being given these reminders of a dead grandfather you never knew.

I have emailed the article to you, as you can see it clearly says that, at that time, they still had the personal effects of large numbers of Poles killed during WW2, and were unable to trace the next of kin. If the colour photo - the effects of WO2 Jozef Nowakowski - is anything to go by some people in Poland have something well worth having, if they can be found. According to the caption Jozef Nowakowski, of the Carpathian Rifle Brigade, was killed in action on 28th August 1941.

I have found the article, but it is too large to post here. If interested send me an email address.

I am not sure that the British know who WW2 Polish servicemens next of kin are/were. Some time ago, before the fall of the Warsaw Pact, I read an article about the Polish section at the MOD. They actually had the personal effects of hundreds of Poles killed fighting in the west, and no way of finding the next of kin. Many of the Poles were using assumed names to avoid reprisals on their family in occupied Poland, and many of the Poles in Poland had been interned or resettled by the Russians or Germans, many addresses had ceased to exist etc. Things may have changed since Poland entered the EEC. I hope so.

I don't know this item, but it can not possibly be genuine. It is dated 1916 and yet it has Edward VII as King. The King in 1916 was George V. Edward VII had died in 1910 and was succeeded by George V, who was his son.