Those who Served
P/O R. Henderson R. . RCAF 149 Sqd. P/O Henderson was taken POW when his Wellington was shot down by a night fighter whilst on Ops to Duisburg, it crashed at Haelen in Holland. |
Trimmer H. Rainey . Naval Auxiliary Personnel HMS Forfar H. Rainey was amongst the survivors of HMS Forfar. |
Richard J. Ramsey . My grandfather, Richard J Ramsey of Indiana, was a POW at the Stalag 9B Bad Orb Hessen-Nassau, Prussia 50-09. I do not have additional information. He never spoke of his experience to his children. He died in a car accident in 1975. If there is anyone who remembers him there, I would appreciate any information. Thank you.
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Sgt. Randall . British Army Royal Welch Fusiliers |
J. Rankin . British Army Royal Corps of Signals |
Pte. William Ranner . Royal Marines HMS Manchester My Grandfather served on HMS Manchester. His name was William (Bill Ranner) Private Royal Marines. His service docs show that he was interned after the sinking of the Manchester. I can only assume he made it ashore and was captured and held as a POW.
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Matt Ransom . US Army Air Force tail gunner 452nd Bomb Group |
William "Bill" Raper . Navy HMS Penelope My grandfather William Raper (known as Bill) served on the HMS Penelope during WW2. He was one of the survivors when she sank in 1944. Unfortunately I don't know what his rank or number was at this point. |
P/O D. Rasmussen . Royal Air Force navigator 76 Sqd. |
Marine Kenneth Leslie Ratcliff . Royal Marines (d.5th February 1945) During the second World War the Allied and German soldiers, who were killed in Goirle, Noord Brabant, the Netherlands and in the neighbourhood, were buried at the Roman Catholic cemetery from the parish St. Jan in Goirle.
After the war the remains of the German soldiers were reburied in Ysselsteijn (near Venray) and most of the allied soldiers were reburied in Bergen op Zoom (War Cemetery and Canadian War Cemetery) and in Leopoldsburg (Belgium, War Cemetery).
At this moment there are 27 Allied graves in Goirle. Every year we commemorate the victims of World War II, both soldiers and civilians. We know their names, but who were the persons behind the names? What were their lives before they died? Where did they come from? How did they die? Under what circumstances?
It is my intention to give the victims a face, to write and keep the story behind the gravestones because we always will remember the soldier who died for our liberty. We can forget names, but not faces. I will try to write down all their stories for the next generation so they will know who was commemorated.
Maybe someone can help me with Marine Kenneth Leslie Ratcliff, Royal Marines PLY/X 103381, who died on the 5th February 1945, age 22.
Send me a letter or an e-mail with additional information, a photograph or a copy of any personal document, which I can use for The Memory Book or a website. Thank you in advance for your help. |
Flight Lieutenant Philip P Ratel DFC. RAF123052 59 Squadron |
Flight Sergeant Alexander "Sandy" Rattray . RAF 139 Squadron I am looking for history of pilot Alexander "Sandy" Rattray, Flight Sergeant 1571518.
All I know is he was in 139 squadron and flew Mosquitos.
Any information, or where I should look, would be of great assistance.
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Beryl Rawlings . Women's Land Army |
Flt Sgt John Rawson . Royal Air Force 44 Squadron Flt Sgt John Rawson was shot down on the 2/3rd September 1941 on a mission to Frankfurt, he was the only crew member to survive. He was held prisoner in eastern Poland and spent some time in Auschwitz, a punishment for repeated escape attempts he arrived back in this country in late 1945 or early 1946 weighing only 7st. He left the RAF and joined the colonial service and worked in Nigeria for 11years. He later went on to work for Burmah oil. He sadly passed away on in June 2009 age 87. He was my uncle and Ii am proud to have known him
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Pte S. Ray . Home Guard Signal Sect. Workington Btn. |
P Rayment . Navy HMS Nigeria I have a photo of H.M.S. Nigeria with lots of signatures on the back. It says Torpedo Division 1945 and is dated 19th September 1945.
The names are:
R G Stocker Geordie BurnsRonald J HarrisG KentP RaymentW WheatleyD ChapmanH J FisherD P Sweeney A ?? WhitheadH LockearBlimp PalmerG. KentJ Arnold ~(Sussex) A ChapmanJames Robertson(Jock)R E FisherD MercerR E RileyW L GilbertF J Fulcher (Wind Bo'sun 1st class)D Hughes TGMG L BowersE TicehurstF C WelchG W Downes |
Ord. Seaman T. Rayment . Royal Navy HMS Forfar T. Rayment was one of the survivors when HMS Forfar was lost in 1940. |
Sgt. Jack Read . RAF(VR) flight eng. 207 Sqd |
George Frederick Reece . Navy HMS Cairo I have recently found out that my grandfather was leading signalman on
HMS Cairo during the Second World War. His name was George Frederick
Reece, he survived the war and died in 1964. |
Floyd Reed . US Army from Alabama, USA) My dad is 81, and remembers when his brother, Floyd Reed, was reported missing by the Army. They lived at the end of a long country road, and few cars ever came to their house, so he saw the car coming toward the house from his upstairs bedroom window. It was the Red Cross bringing news that his brother was missing. Then several months later, the same type of car came and told his parents that his brother had been killed. He remembers his father fainted, but his mother maintained that her son was NOT dead, because if he was, she would know it. Eight more months passed, when another car came toward their house in the middle of the night. This time a tall, very thin jaundiced young man got out of the car and came toward the house along with the ladies from the Red Cross. My dad said he looked at the guy, and he looked very scary, with sunken eyes, and he "wasn't anyone I knew." However, his mother grabbed him saying, "My boy, My boy is alive." My uncle had been a POW in Germany at Stalag 9B Bad Orb Hessen-Nassau, Prussia 50-09. For a long time, he wanted no one to come around him. When the other children in the family would get near him he would yell for them to leave him alone. However, he finally allowed my dad, his younger brother, to get close, and they became life-long friends and confidantes. He told my dad he was kept in a pen with an electrified fence topped with barbed wire. He said they were crowded, slept in the mud, had no food, and that it became so bad that soldiers would make the others promise not to starve but to consume them once they died. He never said if he participated in cannabalism but confirmed it went on. He went on to marry and have children, but always preferred to spend time working alone. |
Kenneth "Taffy" Rees . British Army 55th Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery from Port Talbot) I am writing this on behalf of my father, Kenneth Rees, who is now 86 years old, he served with the 55th Heavy Field Regiment, Royal Artillery and has told us this story about how when he was serving in India, his regiment was being disbanded at the end of 1946-47 and he had to drive a Super Mack Lorry with a 7.2 gun to Dulali to the School of Artillery, where we believe it is still on display, there were two other people accompanying him on this trip which took at least 8 days driving. |
Herbert Reeve . Home Guard Feltwell Btn. |
Pilot Officer K R Regan . RAF 59 Squadron |
Col. Reid . Home Guard Windsor Btn. |
Sgt. Ian Henry Milne Reid . RAF(VR) flight eng. 101 Sqd. (d.21st Jun 1944) |
Sgt. J. D. Reid . Royal Air Force 514 Sqd. Having been shot down on the 3rd of August, Sgt J.D.Reid evaded capture until the 9th when he was captured in Paris with his crew mates, they were taken to Buchenwald before internment in Stalag Luft 3 |
L. Reid . US Navy 103 Sqd. Fleet Air Wing 7 |
Tpr. William A. Reid . Army Nottinghamshire Yeomanry from Dublin, Ireland.) (d.10th Sep 1944) My Grandfather was a member of the Nottinghampshire Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry. His name was Trooper William Reid, born in Dublin, Ireland in Feb 1923, he joined the regiment in late 1943 and fought from Normandy, through France, to Gheel in Northern Belguim where he was killed in action, aged 21, during the heavy fighting there to secure a bridgehead over the Albert Canal, on sept 10 1944, he is buried in Stelen churchyard 2km from Gheel. He was buried by the regiment's Padre, Leslie Skinner along with 9 others in Stelen Churchyard near Geel. Members of the Durham Light Infantry who were supporting during the battle are also buried there. He was married to Cathrine and they had one daughter Bernadette
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Pte. Charles Reilly . British Army 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment from Stewartstown, Co.Tyrone) My father, Charles Reilly, was taken prisoner of war at Arnhem and was incarcerated at Stalag 11B. He was put to work down the iron mines. He suffered frostbite to his feet. He did, however, escape as the prisoners were being marched. He was on the run for 2 days but reached the American lines. He arrived home just before the war ended.
As he never really talked about his experiences I do not know much about conditions in the camp. I would like to hear from anyone who has any details, maybe they remember him.
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Pilot Officer J J Reilly . RCAF 59 Squadron |
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