The previously unnamed grave of a World War 2 soldier from Saltash, Cornwall, who served with the Hampshire Regiment been identified and rededicated in his name 81 years after his death.
The service for Pte Sidney Allen was organised by the MOD’s ‘War Detectives’ at CWGC Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany.
JCCC Caseworker, Nicola Nash, said:
It is a great privilege to be here to honour Pte Sidney Allen, who gave his life in service to his country at just 19 years of age. For more than 80 years his family did not know exactly where he lay, making this identification especially significant. Today we remember his sacrifice and ensure that his name, service and story are never forgotten.
Cpl Wendy Robert, The Band of the Mercian Regiment, sounds Last Post at the service for Pte Allen (Crown Copyright)
Private Allen grew up in Saltash working in HM Dockyard alongside his father. He enlisted in the Army in February 1944 and arrived in France that August, joining the 7th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, during the Allied advance through Normandy.
Over the following months he took part in several operations including the capture of Mont Picon and St-Denis-de-Mere, the advance across the River Seine, the liberation of Brussels, Operation Market Garden, and fighting in the Netherlands and Germany.
In February 1945, the battalion joined Operation Veritable, the offensive to clear the Reichswald Forest, where soldiers faced fierce resistance, deep mud and flooded terrain. On 15 February 1945, during heavy fighting near Cleve and the Reichswald, Sidney was killed aged 19 and officially recorded as missing.
Decades later, research submitted by a member of the public established that he had originally been buried in Materborn alongside other soldiers killed in the same action. As the only member of the battalion from that engagement still listed as missing, the grave was finally identified as belonging to Private Sidney Allen.
The headstone was replaced by Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).
Fergus Read, Commemorations Case Officer at the CWGC, said:
It is deeply fitting that Private Sidney Allen is now commemorated by name at his final resting place. The evidence for the grave identification was compelling, and Private Allen, who was previously commemorated on a memorial, now has a known grave, which the Commission will care for in perpetuity.