Saunders John Thomas L/Cpl 4457964
Personnel Entry
Name Saunders John Thomas
Army number 4457964
Rank Lance Corporal.
Decorations
Date of birth
Age 25 at the time of his death.
Unit Enlisted in The Durham Light Infantry, T, no enlistment date as yet, but his number suggests Spring/Summer 1939. Posted to the ? 9th Battalion. Posted to the ? 12th Battalion DLI 1/9/1939. Transferred to the Black Watch 1/2/1940,and posted to the 1st Tyneside Scottish. Served in Northern France with the B.E.F., Taken Prisoner of War at Ficheux 20/5/1940 (a report of his capture appeared in the Auckland Chronicle of 1/8/1940), KILLED 21/7/1944. (DLI Enlistment Book entry reads - Killed as a PoW as a result of a dispute. The Black Watch Enlistment Book entry reads - Shot for rebellion 21 July 1944 whilst P.o.W. in German hands, Serial No. 429).
Company/Battery C Company.
Platoon or other sub-unit
Task or role
Joined Brigade Probably 1/9/1939.
Promotions
Wounded
Prisoner of War Yes - Stalag VIIIB (Lamsdorf), PoW Number 15529.
Died/Killed in action Murdered 21-Jul-44 along with Trooper Thomson. Buried in Popielow Churchyard - Graves now formally identified with CWGC headstones. Formal dedication of the headstone took place on 21/8/2014, along with that for Trooper Henry Alexander THOMSON M.M. (Lothian and Borders Yeomanry)- shot dead in the same incident, and buried in the adjacent grave number 2.
Home address Son of Joseph and Florence May Saunders, Bishop Auckland.
Source table 1TS
To read a BBC News piece by Duncan Leatherdale (formerly a reporter with The Northern Echo) linked to the dedication service for the two headstones please click here. L/Cpl Saunders did not, as the piece suggests, enlist directly into 1st Tyneside Scottish but joined the Durham Light Infantry and was transferred to the Black Watch and posted to 1st Tyneside Scottish when the 12th Battalion (Tyneside Scottish) Durham Light Infantry was transferred from the Corps of the DLI to the Corps of the Black Watch on 1st February 1940.
There was an account of the dedication service in the Northern Echo which was formerly available via this hyperlink, but has now been removed from their archive here The work to identify Trooper Thomson M.M. as the second victim was carried out jointly by John and Mavis Dixon and involved a combination of military and genealogical research over a considerable period.
To read L/Cpl Saunders commemorative record please click here
