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27th May 1940On this day:
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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Remembering those who died this day.
- Ablett Ronald Victor John. Pte. (d.27 May 1940)
- Barrett John Denis. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Beasley Kenneth Austin. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Collingwood Frank Gerald. L/Cpl. (d.27th May 1940)
- Davis George Henry. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Deane Arthur Dennis. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Fletcher Joseph William. L/Cpl. (d.27th May 1940)
- Garrard Frank Ernest. Cpl. (d.27th May 1940)
- Griffin Enoch Frederick. Rflmn. (d.27th May 1940)
- Hill Edward. L/Cpl. (d.27th May 1940)
- Hough David. L/Cpl. (d.27th May 1940)
- Howlett Nelson Robert John . A/Cpl. (d.27th May 1940)
- Hunter John Swain. Rfm. (d.27 May 1940)
- Koppens Johannes Martinus. Rflmn. (d.27th May 1940)
- McCamley John. Fus. (d.27th May 1940)
- Mozley James Campbell. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Smyth John Patrick. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Southwood Eric Douglas Marrack. Cook. (d.27th May 1940)
- Spence James William. Pte. (d.27th May 1940 )
- Spence James William. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Stephens Albert Arthur. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Stephens Albert Arthur. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Sutherland Robert Thomas. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
- Upton James. Dvr. (d.27th May 1940)
- Yule George Henry. Pte. (d.27th May 1940)
The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please
Add a Name to this List
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Want to know more about the 27th of May 1940? There are:70 items tagged 27th of May 1940 available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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Stories from 27th May 1940
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Pte. James Albert Meadowcroft. British Army, 1st Battalion Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. My father, James Meadowcroft, was captured at 2130 hrs in Hazebrouk, Northern France on 27 May 1940 with a group headed by Major Elliot Viney who had been in an orphanage garden. He was taken by train across Germany to Stalag XXB in Poland.
I was born in 1940 and did not see my father until he returned home. I understand he walked out across Poland and was picked up by the Americans who flew him back to Wescott Bucks. He was taken to Hartwell House near Aylesbury to clean up, which was only a mile or so across the fields from home.
I have a few POW photos from this time but otherwise know nothing about his time in the POW camp. For years after I can remember him waking in the night, swearing in German as described by another writer on this site.
I would appreciate if anyone has any further information as he would never talk to me about his experiences. Two years ago I attended a ceremony in Hazebrouk where they have set up a plaque remembering the stand taken by the Ox and Bucks and others. Also a similar ceremony at Cassel.
Ron Meadowcroft
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L/Cpl. Joseph William Fletcher. Army, 1st Btn. Royal Berkshire Regiment. (d.27th May 1940) Joe was my mother's brother, he was sadly killed at Dunkirk. Her other brother John served in the Navy and my mother and one of her 6 sisters served in the Land Army.Sandra Garrod
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Rfm. John Swain Hunter. British Army, 2nd Bn (Queen Victoria's Rifles) King's Royal Rifle Corps. (d.27 May 1940) He was especially proud of his motorcycle. Reported killed at Dunkirk. He is on the Dunkirk Memorial, but no known grave.Maurice Johnson
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Pte. James Campbell Mozley. British Army, 4th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. (d.27th May 1940) From The South London Times, Friday 8 August 1941:
In May last year [1940] during the Dunkirk evacuation, Private James Campbell Mozley [21] of the Royal Berkshire and Lance Corporal Scott decided to part company at a road junction on the Belgian border. The road that Scott chose took hin to Dunkirk and home. Mozley was never heard of again and was presumed missing. Now Mozley's mother of 10 Pendernrist Road Streatham London has just heard from the Red Cross that he was killed. In the above picture Mozley is seen in the bottom right hand corner.
In Memory of Private James Campbell Mozley 534073, 4th Bn., Royal Berkshire Regiment who died age 21 on 27 May 1940 Son of Rufus and Mary Ann Mozley. of Streatham. London. Remembered with honour Adegem Canadian War Cememtery.
. Janet E Milner
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L/Cpl. Edward "Ginger" Hill. British Army, 1st Bn. Royal Berkshire Regiment. (d.27th May 1940) I was asked by my uncle to research the family tree for their side of the family. After talking to the four brothers about their lives and what they remembered of their family it jolted their memories about an uncle who had died during the war. After a little research I found the War Grave Commission for L/Cpl Edward Hill - who is my grandfathers twin brother. My uncles were not aware of their father having a twin brother!
Both of the brothers joined the Royal Berkshires from Monmouthshire during the 1930's. Thomas left the army after having a severe motorbike accident early in the war. Edward was sadly killed at Dunkirk on 27th May 1940. His War Grave Commission memorial is at The Dunkirk Memorial Part II, column III. I have made the trip to France to pay my respects to Edward.
Sadly I have no photos of Edward, but I have been able to read a little about the circumstance leading to his death in the Regimental diaries held at the Reading Library.
Update: Edward enlisted into the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment and died at Dunkirk age 27. He was the son of Thomas and Alice Hill; stepson of Mrs. A. G. Hill, of Hainault, Ilford, Essex.
Joanne James
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Cook. Eric Douglas Marrack Southwood. Royal Navy, HM Trawler Thomas Bartlett . (d.27th May 1940) Cook(S) Eric Southwood served with the Royal Navy during WW2 and was killed in action on the 27th May 1940, aged 20. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Plymouth and was the son of Douglas Marrack Southwood and Mabel Florence Southwood, of Horfield, Gloucestershire.
S Flynn
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Cpl. Frank Ernest Garrard. British Army, 2nd Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps. (d.27th May 1940) My Grandfather was Corporal Frank Ernest Garrard, 2nd Bn, King's Royal Rifle Corps. He joined the regiment in 1937. He was posted to Calais during the siege of the city, arriving on or about 24th May. He died there on 27th May. Anyone who has any information about my grandfather's service in the regiment and his death in Calais, please contact me. I would be grateful for any information that anyone can provide. Thank you.Graeme Garrard
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Rflmn. Enoch Frederick Griffin. British Army, 2nd Btn. Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). (d.27th May 1940) I never knew my uncle Fred Griffin, only that he was a kind and caring man who, when on leave, used to throw his spare change to the children playing in the streets.
When he was killed whilst fighting in Belgium in 1940, he was recognised from a letter found in his pocket.
Unfortunately the letter was from or to my father, John Llewellyn Griffin and it was my father's name that was engraved on my uncle's grave stone in Esquelmes war cemetery in Belgium. Anthony Griffin
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Pte. George Henry Davis. British Army, 2nd Batallion Durham Light Infantry. (d.27th May 1940) George served in the 2nd Battalion of the DLI, alongside his older brother, Lance Sgt Thomas Davis. Thomas was my grandfather, George would have been my great uncle. They were attacked on the morning of 27th of May 1940 by a Panzer Regiment in the village of St Venant, some 40 miles south of Dunkirk. During the retreat, George and Thomas jumped into the canal to the north of the canal in an attempt to escape from the Germans. I think George and Thomas were in D Company of 2nd DLI, tasked with defending the ground to the west of St Venant, between the railway line and the canal de la Lys just to the north. It is likely that George died towards midday on the 27th, as he was last seen swimming across the canal with Thomas. Thomas reported in a letter back home from his prison camp that he and George were swimming, then George stopped and wasn't seen again.
I believe the 3rd Panzer Division lay to the south of DLI lines, and the German SS infantry lay to the west. As the Panzers moved northwards, it became a battle of guns against tanks. The British troops had no options but to retreat, with many losing their lives in the open ground between the railway and the canal. Thomas was pulled out of the canal by the Germans and taken prisoner. George's body was pulled from the canal about a mile east, snagged on a burnt out barge, and buried alongside the canal.
A couple of years after his death, the International Red Cross dug up his body by the side of the canal, and re-interred him in the St Venant Commonwealth Cemetery. Before re-burial, his remains were examined and the records show that there were no visible signs of gunshot wounds on his remains. This led me to speculate that perhaps he was not shot, but drowned. The morning of the 21st was a particularly hot one, and the brothers had had to race across a cornfield for about a kilometre while under heavy machine gun fire from the chasing Panzers. It is quite possible that George, although only 25, was weakened by the chase, and his exhaustion and equipment combined to drag him beneath the water to his death.
The exact date of death is not known: he disappeared on the morning of the 27th of May, and his body recovered on the 1st June. His grave in the St Venant Commonwealth cemetery bears both dates, although it is most likely the former is the true date.
Geoff Dickson
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Pte. John Patrick Smyth. British Army, 8th Btn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment. (d.27th May 1940) My grandfather, John Smyth was killed in Dunkirk 26 days after his son was born, whom he never met.Fiona Beaumont
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Pte. George Henry Yule. British Army, 1st Btn. King's Own Scottish Borderers. (d.27th May 1940) George Yule served with 1st Btn. King's Own Scottish Borderers. Amanda
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Rflmn. Johannes Martinus "John" Koppens. British Army, 2nd Battalion Cameronians. (d.27th May 1940) John Koppens was a Rifleman with 2nd Battalion, Cameronians who died on 27th of May 1940 aged 20, he is buried at the Esquelmes War Cemetery in Belgium. Lisa Koppens
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Dvr. James Upton. British Army, Royal Army Service Corps. (d.27th May 1940) James Upton was my grandmother's brother-in-law. His wife was called Lily. He died at Dunkirk and his name is on the Dunkirk Memorial. Would love to know more about him.Nicholas Sargent
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Pte. James William Spence. British Army, 4th Battalion Green Howards. (d.27th May 1940 ) James Spence was my uncle. I never knew him, he was only 20 when he died. Margaret Frazer-Cann
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Pte. Kenneth Austin Beasley. British Army, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. (d.27th May 1940) On the retreat at Dunkirk two brothers met, one Ken Beasley had been ordered to stay behind to help keep back the German advance. He gave his brother, Elan, a plant he had come across to take back to Tunbridge Wells to give to his father, who was a plantsman. Although Ken's date of birth shows him to be 19 he was actually 18. He didn't make it but his brother returned to England safely. A neighbour recalls that Ken was machine gunned by the Germans and run over by a tank. There are tributes to him in St. Mark's Parish Church, Tunbridge Wells. He is one of the unsung heroes of Dunkirk. Marian Evan-Cook
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Pte. James William Spence. British Army, 4th Btn. Yorkshire Regiment. (d.27th May 1940) I don't know much about my uncle James Spence. I know he died in the Second World War but unfortunately my father (his brother) would not talk about the war to us.
I am trying to find out about my uncle Jimmy. Margaret Frazer-Cann
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Fus. John McCamley. British Army, 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers. (d.27th May 1940) John McCamley was 21 years old when he lost his life, he is buried in Dunkirk Town Cemetery. Gary Gardiner
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Pte. John Denis Barrett. British Army, 2nd Btn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment. (d.27th May 1940) John Barrett served with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment in WW2. He was reported missing from 20th of May 1940 possibly in the region of Hollain, Belgium. He is listed as date of death, 27th of May 1940 on CWGC site, age 25 years and is remembered on the Dunkirk Memorial.
France. Son of John and Ann Marther Barrett of Bow, London.Derek Barrett
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L/Cpl. David Hough. British Army, Green Howards. (d.27th May 1940) David Hough lost his life while serving with the Green Howards. Steven Jones
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