Eerste onderzoek naar veldgraf is uitgevoerd.
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First research to field grave executed.
Leuth - Things are moving in the investigation into the alleged field grave at the Duffelt Dijk in Leuth where possibly the fallen Canadian soldier Ernest David Harrison is buried.Three members of the military graves department Soesterberg examined a few weeks ago the Leuth' field with equipment. They spent three days. No digging has been done yet. Above ground is measured what may be found underground. The search location was indicated by two pickets, which have since been removed.
The graves service does not yet give any preliminary results. The data will be processed in a report and sent to Mayor Paul Wilbers of Ubbergen. The municipality will ultimately have to decide whether further investigation is done. This first study was funded by the graves service itself, further research will be paid by the municipality. Mayor Wilbers knows already about the initial findings. "The chances are small that something is found, I heard. Ther field has over the years been deeply plowed. The farm that stood there exploded because it was used for ammunition storage, and that also disturbed all soil layers. The research on the field grave is the last year intensified because of contacts between the Dutch and the sister of the fallen soldier, the 77-year-old Beatrice Messinger. She lost two brothers in the war. Her oldest brother, John Arthur "Bud" was killed in Normandy in June 1944. That inspired brother Ernest to also join the army. He died in the run up to Operation Veritable, in which the Allies fougth themselves into the Rhineland behind Nijmegen "The saddest part for me: one was given a proper grave… but the other’s place of rest was unknown," she wrote in an open letter she previously distributed among the inhabitants of the Ooijpolder. With the help of the descriptions of a German minister, aerial photographs from 1935 and cadastre drawings from 1894 it was established that the 20-year-old Ernest must be burried near the Duffelt Dijk in Leuth.
But there are still many ambiguities. Ernest David Harrison is mentioned in the name register of the Canadian cemetery at the Zevenheuvelenweg as 'missing in action'. Also, after the war the location has already been investigated according to the Graves Registration and Enquiries Office in London. But there are no reports known to the Red Kriuis, Gelders Archives and the National Archives.
The graves service does not yet give any preliminary results. The data will be processed in a report and sent to Mayor Paul Wilbers of Ubbergen. The municipality will ultimately have to decide whether further investigation is done. This first study was funded by the graves service itself, further research will be paid by the municipality. Mayor Wilbers knows already about the initial findings. "The chances are small that something is found, I heard. Ther field has over the years been deeply plowed. The farm that stood there exploded because it was used for ammunition storage, and that also disturbed all soil layers. The research on the field grave is the last year intensified because of contacts between the Dutch and the sister of the fallen soldier, the 77-year-old Beatrice Messinger. She lost two brothers in the war. Her oldest brother, John Arthur "Bud" was killed in Normandy in June 1944. That inspired brother Ernest to also join the army. He died in the run up to Operation Veritable, in which the Allies fougth themselves into the Rhineland behind Nijmegen "The saddest part for me: one was given a proper grave… but the other’s place of rest was unknown," she wrote in an open letter she previously distributed among the inhabitants of the Ooijpolder. With the help of the descriptions of a German minister, aerial photographs from 1935 and cadastre drawings from 1894 it was established that the 20-year-old Ernest must be burried near the Duffelt Dijk in Leuth.
But there are still many ambiguities. Ernest David Harrison is mentioned in the name register of the Canadian cemetery at the Zevenheuvelenweg as 'missing in action'. Also, after the war the location has already been investigated according to the Graves Registration and Enquiries Office in London. But there are no reports known to the Red Kriuis, Gelders Archives and the National Archives.