A recent trip to Heythuysen , Holland, shed light on a sad accident. This is the story...
30 year old, Gunner C.J. Aldridge of 81 Battery died on the 17th November during Operation Mallard. He was the son of Joseph and Anne Aldridge and husband of Winifred E. Aldridge of Hockley in Essex. Gunner Aldridge was a driver mechanic, and his army number (6295522) suggests he enlisted in the Buffs. We know that he is now buried in Nederweert War Cemetery. However, according to the CWGC records, he was first buried on the gun position, map reference 63909075.
30 year old, Gunner C.J. Aldridge of 81 Battery died on the 17th November during Operation Mallard. He was the son of Joseph and Anne Aldridge and husband of Winifred E. Aldridge of Hockley in Essex. Gunner Aldridge was a driver mechanic, and his army number (6295522) suggests he enlisted in the Buffs. We know that he is now buried in Nederweert War Cemetery. However, according to the CWGC records, he was first buried on the gun position, map reference 63909075.
What do we know? The date of his death we know from the regimental War Diary was the date the Regiment were moving location to follow up the advance. Drivers would, therefore, be on the gun position with their vehicles to pick up the guns for the move. In addition, we know the weather was very wet and cold at this time and the ground a quagmire. The War Diary for this date has no details about any casualties.
With this in mind I set off to find the exact location. By comparing modern maps and period maps, I thought I had found the rough location of the gun position and place where Aldridge was buried in a rural area of farmland near Haler.
As I was looking around, a man approached from a farmhouse. He wanted to speak to us but only spoke Dutch. With the help of my friends we discovered, quite incredibly, that he had lived in the farm as a little boy and had witnessed the events of the 17th of November 1944! A further coincidence was that he just happened to be visiting relatives in the farm at the moment we had arrived and didn't actually live there.
He told us that when the guns were being moved out of their pits a 'carrier' tipped over and crushed one of the soldiers. By 'carrier' we believe he meant a Matador - the vehicle used to tow the guns. He pointed to the area where it happened. He went on to say that his father had helped to move the body to a chicken barn, where the Regiment's small first-aid post was located. After this, he walked to the exact spot where Aldridge was first buried at a junction in the road a few metres away. We had found him and his story had been discovered!
The man, whose name regrettably I did not obtain, did not know what subsequently happened to the gunner he had seen buried so close to his home. He was surprised when we could reveal the name of the unfortunate gunner and the final place of burial to him - not far away in Nederweert - and he vowed to visit soon.
With this in mind I set off to find the exact location. By comparing modern maps and period maps, I thought I had found the rough location of the gun position and place where Aldridge was buried in a rural area of farmland near Haler.
As I was looking around, a man approached from a farmhouse. He wanted to speak to us but only spoke Dutch. With the help of my friends we discovered, quite incredibly, that he had lived in the farm as a little boy and had witnessed the events of the 17th of November 1944! A further coincidence was that he just happened to be visiting relatives in the farm at the moment we had arrived and didn't actually live there.
He told us that when the guns were being moved out of their pits a 'carrier' tipped over and crushed one of the soldiers. By 'carrier' we believe he meant a Matador - the vehicle used to tow the guns. He pointed to the area where it happened. He went on to say that his father had helped to move the body to a chicken barn, where the Regiment's small first-aid post was located. After this, he walked to the exact spot where Aldridge was first buried at a junction in the road a few metres away. We had found him and his story had been discovered!
The man, whose name regrettably I did not obtain, did not know what subsequently happened to the gunner he had seen buried so close to his home. He was surprised when we could reveal the name of the unfortunate gunner and the final place of burial to him - not far away in Nederweert - and he vowed to visit soon.
The exact spot where Gunner Aldridge was first buried on the 17th of November 1944.
The gun position where Aldridge died was located in the field here where the horses can just be seen.
