The Parish of South Cove
In memory of those from this parish, who
gave their lives in both world wars
1914-1918
8301 Lance Corporal James William Briggs, 2nd. Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Eastern Ontario Regiment), Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Born on 12th. September 1895 at Southwold, Suffolk, the son of James William and Ruth Mary Briggs of The Five Bells Inn, South Cove.
James served 2 years with the Territorials in England before enlisting at Valcaitier, Canada on 23rd. September 1914, when the Army recorded that he was single, 5 ft. 9 in. tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and red hair. His occupation was given as a labourer.
On 11th. May 1915 James was made a Lance Corporal.
James was killed in action, aged 21, on Tuesday 4th. April 1916. He is buried in Grave: II. G. 10. at Woods Cemetery, 4 km south-east of Leper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium with the personnel inscription,
'IN LOVING MEMORY OF WILLIE
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN'
Also commemorated on Page 58 of the First World War Book of Remembrance, The Canadian Virtual War Memorial
70546 Driver John Eric Collins, 63rd. Battery, Royal Field Artillery.
Born 1892, the son of the late Charles John Collings and Jane Louisa Collings of The Brick Kiln, South Cove.
John died, aged 24, on Friday 1st. September 1916. He has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel 3 and 60 of the Basra Memorial, Basra, Iraq.
G/2737 Private Edward James Mower, 7th. Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment).
Born 1890, the son of James and Alice Louisa Mower, nee Fenn.
Edward died, aged 27, on Thursday 3rd. May 1917. He has no known grave and is commemorated on Bay 2 of the Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.
37087 Gunner William James Pearson, 153rd. Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery.
The son of Mrs. E. Pearson of South Cove.
William died of malaria at the 28th. General Hospital, Salonika, Greece on Friday 6th. December 1918. He is buried in Grave: 804 at Micra British Cemetery, Kalamaria, Greece
18996 Private Alfred William Sharman, 7th. Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.
Born 1882, the husband of Sarah Elizabeth Sharman of Golden Square, South Cove.
Alfred died, aged 35, on Saturday 28th. April 1917. He has no known grave and is commemorated on Bay 4 of the Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.
*Not on the memorial*
10689 Private Stanley Victor Whiting MM, 1st. Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment.
Stanley died, aged 19, on Sunday 24th. November 1918. He is buried in the north-west corner of St. Lawrence churchyard, South Cove.
1939-1945
5827415 Private Gordon George Baldry, 4th. Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.
Born on 20th. March 1918, the fourth child and eldest son of Joseph Edward and Alice Emma Baldry, nee Dawson, of West End Farm Cottage, Wrentham, Suffolk.
Occupation, farm labourer.
Gordon became a prisoner of war of the Japanese when he was captured at Singapore on 15th. February 1942.
Put to work on the Thailand-Burma Railway, Gordon died, aged 25, on Sunday 12th. December 1943 from diarrhoea and ulcers. He was originally interred in Grave: 48 at Kanburi Hospital Cemetery No.3. On Friday 11th. January 1946 he was reinterred in Plot 2 Row C Grave 48 at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Kanchanaburi, Thailand with the personal inscription,
'NEVER SHALL THE ONE WE LOVE
FROM MEMORY FADE AWAY'
Harold Victor Collings, civilian.
Born on 3rd. September 1915 at Frostenden, Suffolk, the son of Thomas and Lucy Collings, nee Runnacles.
Husband of Lorna Dawson Collings.
Harold died, aged 25, possibly at Blythburgh, Suffolk on Sunday 8th. September 1940. He is buried in St. Lawrence churchyard, South Cove,
5828060 Lance Corporal George Montague Rogers, Suffolk Regiment, attached to No.1 Commando.
Born and raised in Suffolk, the son of Thomas and Grace Rogers.
Husband of Ada May Rogers of Wrentham, Suffolk.
George died, aged 21, during operations at Bizerte, Tunisia on
Tuesday 1st. December 1942. He is buried in Plot 18 Row J Grave 2 at Medjez-el-Bab War Cemetery, Bājah, northern Tunisia.
Also in memory of the American airmen of 409 Bomber
Squadron who lost their lives on 31st of March
1945 when their B24 Liberator crashed narrowly missing
the church. They were:-
O-2057461 2nd. Lt. Marvin L. Tucker, pilot.
Born on 3rd. August 1918 in Cowler, Kansas.
Marvin died, aged 26. He was reburied on 22nd. April 1949 with crewmembers Oliver Jones, Wade Pitt. Ray Stone and Edward Johnson in Section 15, Grave 75 at Arlington National Cemetery, Fort Myer, Virginia. He also has a cenotaph located in Douglass Cemetery, Douglass, Butler County, Kansas.
14168749 Corporal Edward Fondren Johnson, engineer/gunner.
Born on 19th. October 1921 in Bolton, Mississippi.
Enlisted on 29th. June 1944.
Edward died, aged 25. He was reburied on 22nd. April 1949 with crewmembers Oliver Jones, Wade Pitt. Ray Stone and Marvin Tucker in Section 15, Grave 75 at Arlington National Cemetery, Fort Myer, Virginia. He also has a cenotaph located in Lakewood Memorial Park, Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi.
37632502 Corporal Jay W. Martin, waist gunner.
Born on 23rd. June 1921 in Missouri.
Jay died, aged 23. He is buried in Plot B, Row 3, Grave 24 at Cambridge American Cemetery, Madingley, Cambridgeshire.
O-20662285 2nd. Lt. Wade Lawrence Pitt, co-pilot.
Born in 1922 and from Nash County, North Carolina.
He entered military service on 22nd. March 1943, and received his basic training in Miami, Florida. He took various phases of his flight training in Huntington, West Virginia, San Antonio Texas, Corsicana, Texas, and Frederick, Oklahoma.
Wade died on his 3rd. mission. He was reburied on 22nd. April 1949 with crewmembers Edward Johnson, Oliver Jones, Ray Stone and Marvin Tucker in Section 15, Grave 75 at Arlington National Cemetery, Fort Myer, Virginia.
13075961 Sgt. Oliver Cromwell 'Jimmy' Jones Jr, radio operator.
Born on 2nd. September 1921, in Centreville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, the son of Oliver C. and Susan H. Jones.
Oliver died, aged 23. He was reburied on 22nd. April 1949 with crewmembers Edward Johnson, Wade Pitt, Ray Stone and Marvin Tucker in Section 15, Grave 75 at Arlington National Cemetery, Fort Myer, Virginia.
35222366 Sgt. Ray H. Stone Jr, waist gunner.
Born in 1925 in Dayton, Ohio.
He was reburied on 22nd. April 1949 with crewmembers Edward Johnson, Oliver Jones, Wade Pitt and Marvin Tucker in Section 15, Grave 75 at Arlington National Cemetery, Fort Myer, Virginia.
O-2074432 2nd. Lt. Haig Horasanian, navigator/bomb aimer.
Born on 14th. September 1923.
Enlisted into the Army on 11th. February 1943 from a immigrant, working class family, unable to send him to college.
Haig died, aged 21. He was reburied in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, Troy, Oakland County, Michigan,
13172229 Corporal Leon Laverne Gray, ball gunner.
Born on 4th. May 1925, in Cabot, Butler County, Pennsylvania, the son of George Carl and Ethel Roberta Gray, nee McCandless.
Leon died, aged 19. He was reburied in Section 2, Site 468 at Gettysburg National Cemetery, Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania.
38697702 Corporal Farris Eugene Williams, tail gunner.
Born on 9th.January 1922, in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, the son of Alva Lee and Olive Z Williams, nee McCollum.
Farris died, aged 23. He is buried in Plot G, Row 4, Grave 1 at the Cambridge American Cemetery, Madingley, Cambridgeshire.
They are buried at the U.S. Cemetery
Maddingley, Cambridge.
On 31st. March 1945, B-24J Liberator, serial number 42-51241, coded YM-T, of the 409th. Bomb Squadron, 93rd. Bomb Group took off from USAAF Station 104 at Hardwick, Norfolk loaded with 24 x 250 lb. bombs to attack the railway marshalling yards at Brunswick in Germany.
As the formation was assembling, the B-24 hit the propeller turbulence from another bomber, possibly 42-50907, and was thrown over onto its back. Laden with fuel and bombs the Liberator went into an uncontrollable spin. The tragedy was caught by the camera of S/Sgt. Edward T Sozesny, waist gunner aboard another 93rd. BG bomber. Either jettisoned by the crew or more likely flung from the disintegrating B-24 as it broke up just before the crash, the 24 bombs all fell in fields adjacent to Brick Kiln Farm. Eighteen of the bombs exploded, with one damaging windows at South Cove, Wrentham, and Reydon. At 5:30 a.m. the main part of the B-24 crashed into a field beside the Cove Bottom to South Cove road and exploded in a blazing fireball from which there was no hope of survival for any of the crew.
All the bodied were buried at the Cambridge American Cemetery at Madingley in Cambridgeshire.
Two bodies remain at Madingley, but the other seven were repatriated back to the United States for reburial.
Such was the carnage at the crash site that only four of the crew could be positively identified. Despite post-war attempts to identify the crew, the five identified remains were given a group burial at Arlington National Cemetery at Fort Myer, Virginia.
Lest we forget
