Service Details
Name:
 KINNEAR
Given Name:
 RICHARD SYDNEY
Initials:
 R S
Service No:
 53513
Rank:
 Gunner
Other Casualties of this Rank
Regiment:
 South African Artillery
Other Casualties from this Regiment
Date of Death:
 1944-09-27
Other Casualties on this Date
Date of Birth:
 1917-06-11
Age:
 27
Cause of Death:
 Killed in action. In the North Italian village of Carpane on 27 September 1944 the Germans executed 16 Allied soldiers captured fighting with Italian partisans in that area. Escaped with other South Africans from a nearby POW camp and joined up with local partisans to carry on fighting the Germans. They became such a thorn in the flesh of the Germans that a special operation was mounted in the Monte Grappa region to capture them. They were eventually captured and murdered by the Germans. Every year on this day since the end of the war the villagers of Carpane have held a memorial service at this spot by the side of the road where they were killed. For many years the identity of the 16 was not known and the monument was simply inscribed to "16 unknown". It was only about 4 or 5 years ago that their identity was uncovered by Sonia Residori, an Italian academic researcher.
Additional
Information:
Son of William John and Francina Suzanna (nee Pretorius) Kinnear; husband of Adelaide Rose Haig (nee Hornbuckle) Kinnear, of Durban, Natal, South Africa. Educated Potchefstroom Boys High School, Transvaal. Employed employed by Randles Bros and Hudson in Durban. Captured at Sidi Rezegh, Egypt December 1941; escaped from POW camp in Italy. His brother also died in service. Commemorated on the Potchefstroom Boys High; Randles Bros and Hudson, Musgrave Centre, Durban & the Carpane Massacre, Italy WWII Memorials
Commemoration
Country:
 Italy
Other Casualties commemorated in Italy
Cemetery:
 PADUA WAR CEMETERY
Other Casualties commemorated in this Cemetery
Grave Reference:
 I. A. 8.

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