大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Claire White of 大象传媒 Scotland on behalf of Sylvia Murray and has been added to the site with his her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

My mother's only brother was killed in 1943 in Sicily. Prior to his death, my mother had been writing to him regularly. She was expecting her first baby and when she gave birth, she let him know. The last letter told her that conditions were very bad there and asked if the baby had been born yet, then the letters stopped. He had obviously not received news of the birth. James was married and his young wife received the news, which was fairly sketchy. For years it was believed that he had died at Montecassino and my mother never learned any more details. James's widow moved away during the war and my mother lost touch.

As my mother got older, she would mention her brother from time to time; she believed that he had been so disfigured that he was not identified and there did not have a grave. My mother is now 85 and had become more upset over the years until we felt we had to do something. She could not remember the regiment nor any other details. However, with the little information we had, we searched the internet and found the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Even with the limited information, we were able to find he had been in the Royal Artillery and had been killed in action in Catania on 21 November 1943. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website also gave details of the invasion of Sicily; the campaign ended on 17 August 1943 when the Allied forces came together at Messina, but failed to cut off the retreating Axis lines. Because James did not die until November, it looks like he was wounded in the campaign and perhaps later died from his injuries in hospital. We are now in the process of requesting his war record to verify this.

Catania Cemetry contains burials from the later stages of Lentini northwards. Many died in heavy fighting just short of Catania; the town was taken on 5 August and in the battle for the Simeto bridgehead. The cemetry contains 2135 burials from World War II, 113 of them unidentified. We have a copy of the plots in the cemetry and can identify the actual grave where James was laid to rest. My mother was very tearful when we were able to give her the details and says that she will die happy. The family is now free to visit the cemetry and it may be possible that my mother will go.

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