Quote:
Originally Posted by Laurent Rizzotti
For civilian war dead in UK, you can search them in the CWGC website by using the "Search Cemetery" function and then typing the name of the area (for exemple Chelsea): this will return you some cemeteries, but also the administrative name of the area (in this case Chelsea, Metropoliton Borough) and if you click on this you will have the full list of the civilian killed during the war, with (for most of them) the adress where they died (and for those who died of wounds, often the day when they were wounded and the place where they were).
What I am not sure is that if people killed by a falling RAF aircraft will be included in these lists. They should be if they were considered to be war victims.
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Laurent
I agree, they should definitely be on CWGC online, or in the War Grave Volumes, available at most provincial main libraries if they were killed by a crashing RAF aircraft and died due to War Operations. In the case I was researching they were just listed as Civilian War Dead in the Borough, with address, the date and that they died due to enemy action (which is false!!) as the Borough's Civilian War Dead.
However, I am not sure if civilians would be, if the crash was officially deemed 'FA' or a "Flying Accident', as they may not always be 'War Dead'?
Regarding the civilian on the RAF aircraft, the CWGC description was incorrect and having an aerodrome some distance away as his place of death and despite sending copy RAF Daily Routine Orders burial reference, plus their ORB (of the Station organising the funeral) and RAF Unit ORB documentation (who held the aircraft on charge), Flying Accident Card copy, along with a Civil Death Certificate copy indicating place of death (exactly the same as the Accident Card 1/2 Mile North of ...) and also reported to the Deaths Registrar by the RAF Unit who held the RAF aircraft on charge, although CWGC: -
i) acknowledged my correspondence, they failed to reply and only
ii) altered the description, to suggest that he was just one of the Borough's War Dead.
Which is still not strictly correct as he was crew on the RAF aircraft, despite sending CWGC all the information.
His grave with six of the RAF crew buried from the same crash in the War Graves plot, is marked by a family memorial, which gives his name, the date of death and also states in a Flying Accident.
One question, can you search CWGC by date alone for the whole of the UK?
Or is it a question of searching by Borough and then looking down the Borough list, for dates of each individual?
Mark