Service Details
Name:
WARD
Given Name:
RICHARD GODFREY
Initials:
R G
Service No:
33568
Rank:
Private
Other Casualties of this Rank
Regiment:
Rand Light Infantry, S.A. Forces
Other Casualties from this Regiment
Unit:
1st Bn.
Other Casualties from this Unit
Date of Death:
1944-08-19
Other Casualties on this Date
Age:
27
Cause of Death:
Died of pleurisy, whilst a POW, in Germany
Additional
Information:
Son of George and Daisy Edith Ward, of Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa. Born Mayfair, Johannesburg. A mason. On ROH plaque in Christ Church in Mayfair. Place of death unknown but believed to be a hospital in Berlin. Godfrey was the best friend of Vincent Davies visited by ourselves 7 December 2002 (from Jenny Spruyt). He described Godfrey as a very popular man who was very kind and considerate. He would not go dancing as his sister Thora who had suffered from polio as a child and had a bad leg could not go dancing as well. He had a bad chest and also smoked which was considered to be the cause of his final death from pneumonia. Godfrey got his brother Jack a job at the same mine he worked at Rand Leases Gold Mine. Vincent Davies worked at the same mine but Vincent was in the stores while Godfrey was an artisan. Vincent Davies described Godfrey as the best friend that he had ever had in his life. The 1st Rand left South Africa from Durban on the ship Earl de France. The troops had travelled from Johannesburg by train. Vincent Davies believed that if he had been able to be in the same camp as his friend Godfrey then Godfrey would have survived the war. The two men were separated when one was at the beginning of a new line and the other at the end of the old line. Stalag VIIIB, Lamsdorf, near Breslau, Germany between Poland and Czechoslovakia was believed to be the Camp Godfrey was in.
Commemoration
Country:
Germany
Other Casualties commemorated in Germany
Locality:
Berlin, Berlin
Other Casualties commemorated in Berlin, Berlin
Cemetery:
BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY
Other Casualties commemorated in this Cemetery
Grave Reference:
10. C. 5.

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