Cole Thomas Frederick Lance Bombardier 14357142

Personnel Entry

[[Image:|thumb|alt=CWGC Headstone for L/Bdr T F Cole|CWGC Headstone for L/Bdr T F Cole]]

Name Cole Thomas Frederick
Army number 14357142
Rank Lance Bombardier.
Decorations None known beyond Service Awards
Date of birth Born 27/5/1914, Polegate, Sussex. Mother's maiden surname Goddard.
Age 30 at the time of his death.
Unit Conscripted into the General Staff Corps. Underwent Basic Training at a Primary Training Centre. Transferred to the Royal Artillery. Initial postings not known - probably to a Training Regiment. Posted to the 143rd Field Regiment. Served Normandy and North West Europe. Died 18/4/1945.
Company/Battery Not yet known.
Platoon or other sub-unit Not yet known.
Task or role Probably gun crew - confirmation required.
Joined Brigade Not yet known.
Promotions None known beyond Lance Bombardier.
Wounded Not so far as is known.
Prisoner of War Not so far as is known.
Died/Killed in action DIED 18/4/1945 in Ede Netherlands, aged 30. Cause of death not yet known. Initially interred in Jonkerbosch Old Cemetery. Located at Map reference 688592 on Map Sheet 5 1/100,000. Re-buried 9/4/1947 in Jonkerbos War Cemetery, grave plot 21.G.2. Headstone inscription reads "IN MEMORYS GARDEN WE MEET EVERY DAY. HIS LOVING WIFE OLIVE,MUM DAD AND GEORGE".
Home address Son of George Thomas Cole and Alice Maud Cole. Husband of Olive Kate Maud Cole, who he married in July 1938. Worked as a Carpenter. At the time of the 1939 General Register he and his wife were living at 8, Coombe Road, Eastbourne.
Source table

Many of the Royal Artillery personnel pages have benefited from information drawn from the 1939-1945 RA Tracer Cards made available via Ancestry.co.uk However, it would appear that the Tracer Cards of casualties have been removed from the collection so postings, in Lance Bombardier Cole's case, cannot be verified.