First World War casualty Frank Dent (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, April 03, 2014, 17:45 (3886 days ago) @ dent

You're very welcome indeed Christopher, it's always a pleasure to find what can come to light given some carefull web-searching based on a little background knowledge. I don't enjoy war at all but I must say it's always been an interest of mine. As I hopefully made clear, I'm really only guessing when trying to tie down the circumstances of Frank's death. It's possible, altho I think less likely, he was hit by one of the occasional artillery shells or gunfire from an aircraft. Hopefully the War Diaries will give far more information that I can, possibly even maybe name Frank in person, eitherway it looks an excellent resource.

Yes it is odd about the flat tombstones. We've holidayed throughout France many many times and have often commented about their apparent liking for very ornate civilian graves, so ??. I've visited a few War cemeteries and the CWGC ones invariably have the standardised upright crosses, not like Frank's. So like you I wonder if it's because they are mass graves, but I don't know ??. In my experience regarding planning holidays or anything else, I've found that the French are always extremely helpful indeed in answering any queries sent to them via their local Tourist Offices or Mairie (town hall), particularly in case such as these, they do our ancestors proud in the way they tend and care about the fallen. I think if you were to write to the Cemetery at Boulogne they would almost certainly be able to give more information in this respect. Another possible route is the many and varied, and very helpful, specialist WW1 forums on the internet, I'll try and find more later on.

UPDATE !: Oops, I've just revisited the Bolougne Cemetery website and it states "Unusually, the headstones are laid flat in this cemetery. This is due to the sandy soil."
http://ww1cemeteries.com/ww1frenchcemeteries/boulogneeast.htm

I was wondering whether that might have been part of the problem. Our trips to France are invariably via the tunnel to Calais then use the "new" A16 motorway which skirts the coast and Boulogne before veering inland towards Paris. Some of it is quite high overlooking the sea, including a good view down onto Boulogne port, a very scenic yet easy/quiet/fast route - I wish our motorways were as smooth!. The last afternoon of our holidays are usually spent visiting one of the many wartime museum/cemetery in the Calais/Boulogne area before catching a late train home. While using the A16 a few years back we were delayed abt noon on the outskirts of Boulogne by extensive roadworks in the area, so we detoured crosscountry. We saw new motorway access roads being cut thro the surrounding hills and I think from memory the exposed soil did look rather chalky so crumbly to build on.