Unknown soldier
Rank:
Service No:
Date of Death:
Age:
Regiment/Service:
Grave Reference:
17/09/1944
Irish Guards
II.B. No: 05, 06, 07, 11, 12, and 15
Additional information:
In the cemetery there are 6 graves of unknown soldiers. These are all casualties of the Irish Guards regiment which died on the 17th of September 1944.
That day was the start of Operation Market Garden, and the Irish Guards drove up from Lommel towards Valkenswaard in their push for Arnhem.
The Irish Guards ran into a German ambush in which 9 tanks of the regiment were put out of action within 2 minutes. After that fierce fighting broke out. It is in these battles that the unknown soldiers in the cemetery were killed.
At the Groesbeek memorial there are 9 Irish Guards for the 17th of september listed as having no known grave. These are:
Guardsman Thomas John Deehan
Guardsman Thomas James McGovern
Lance Serjeant Edward Cashon
Guardsman Thomas George Clarke
Guardsman Robert Robinson
Lance Corporal Donald Nay
Lance Serjeant Ernest Calvert Wildman
Guardsman William Young
Guardsman James Wood
Some or even all of these men are resting at the Valkenswaard War Cemetery, buried as unknown soldiers. Because these men were all tank crewmembers, it is very likely that they were burnt beyond recognision when the tanks were ambushed.
Lance Serjeant Ernest Calvert Wildman
Lance Corporal Donald Nay
Guardsman Thomas James McGovern
Lance Serjeant Edward Cashon