Cradley WW2 Servicemen/women

[staval]

Local man Terry Evans is preparing a book on WW2 servicemen with Cradley connections.

Despite all the research he's carried out there are 5 men listed on various Cradley memorials he is unable to identify.

They are:

Bridgewater T. (on some memorials J.);
Grainger A.;
North W. (a William North appears on the Halesowen Rural District memorial);
Owen F. (on some memorials A., possibly Alfred shortened to Fred, but on the Halesowen R.D. memorial there's a Frank Owen);
Reece T. (there's no T. Reece in the CWGC records).

It may be that the only way to find out about these men is via family members in the community who recognise their names.

Terry is also looking for photographs of some of the men with Cradley connections who died.
Any photographs or information would be very welcome, including on the those who returned home. Terry's aim is to honour those men and women with Cradley connections who were involved in the war. With the passing of time this book may well be the last chance for information to be gathered together.
staval

[Northern Lass]

are any on Bcc can anyone see?
or can we work out who they are?

Moving to military researching individuals.

[SRD]

It might be worth seeing if there is any documentation on the original erection of the memorial in local records, it might include information on why some people who didn't die in action are included. We have a memorial locally to an aircraft accident where only the pilot survived, but his name is on the memorial because the after effects of the accident, which he blamed on himself, caused him to commit suicide, the committee set up to organise the memorial thought it was only right for him to be included as a casualty of the accident although he was in what was then Rhodesia at the time of his death.

[Northern Lass]

Local man Terry Evans is preparing a book on WW2 servicemen with Cradley connections.

Despite all the research he's carried out there are 5 men listed on various Cradley memorials he is unable to identify.

They are:

Bridgewater T. (on some memorials J.);
Grainger A.;
North W. (a William North appears on the Halesowen Rural District memorial);
Owen F. (on some memorials A., possibly Alfred shortened to Fred, but on the Halesowen R.D. memorial there's a Frank Owen);
Reece T. (there's no T. Reece in the CWGC records).

It may be that the only way to find out about these men is via family members in the community who recognise their names.

Terry is also looking for photographs of some of the men with Cradley connections who died.
Any photographs or information would be very welcome, including on the those who returned home. Terry's aim is to honour those men and women with Cradley connections who were involved in the war. With the passing of time this book may well be the last chance for information to be gathered together.
staval

on the memorials does it have any date of death or anything else or just the above names?

[staval]

Thank you for taking time to help out. There are no dates of death for the individuals on the memorials. I've been in touch with Worcestershire Archives where the records of Halesowen borough council are stored but they say they have no record of any letters or documents about the names on the Halesowen or Cradley war memorials. Cradley of course came under Halesowen when both memorials were up-dated.
Many thanks again for your interest.