The database consists of 526,816 individuals. Of these, 187,861 are buried in a formal grave but not identifiable by name, and the remaining 338,955 are not buried at all - they lie somewhere on the field of battle. The database is searchable by the soldiers name, memorial, and regiment.
In addition, there is a full list of the memorials from which the database was compiled as well as a list of the regiments to which the soldiers belonged.
I chose a soldier, Walter Basil Horsely, filled in his ID no. then updated, then copied url at top of webpage and clicked update. Couldn't remember what to do next as on Facebook it ididn't open another page. When I returned Walter couldn't be found. I also tried finding Harold Potterrill Rifleman no. 8252 in the Baileys South African Sharpshooters, Regiment S21, died Nieuport on the Belgian Coast, 10th July 1917. Then tried George John Bentley, died Battle of Delville Wood, 15 July 1916, but no result. The same for Charles Neville Holmes, Service no. 62473, died Vimmy Ridge but just noticed he is buried in a cemetery - Villers Station Military Cemetery - so I suppose he doesn't fit the criteria? I'm not finding the website easy and the font is excruitingly small. Not easy to correct spelling or add extra word in an already typed sentence. But a lovely idea to 'plant a tree' online.
ReplyDeleteHi Fineli, you can increase the font size by simply holding down Cmd (on a Mac) or Ctrl (on a PC) and then clicking on the plus sign (+) until you get the desired size. Clicking Cmd (or Ctrl) and the minus sign (-) will reduce the font size.
DeleteI am a little confused as i clicked on the search and it has a great uncle of mine Edward Valentine Freed but i didnt regard him as missing as he has a memorial. He will be in a few trees on ancestry as its not a very common name
ReplyDeleteGloria
The name on the memorial simply acknowledges that he died. It does not mean that his body was found and he was buried. Do you know if he has a specific grave somewhere? As far as I can see he is just mentioned on the Thiepval Memorial but there is no cemetery plot given ... https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/750118/EDWARD%20VALENTINE%20FREED/ ... As it says on the CWGC website, "The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave."
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