Roll of Honour – World War 2
In November 2015, a teacher at one of our local schools asked the members of his class to see what they could find out about the names listed on their village war memorials. In Ashton Hayes this was to be a particularly difficult task because, apart from the names, nothing was known about the men listed. However, David Case, the grandfather of one of the boys and a man with approximately 60 years of experience with genealogical research under his belt, grasped the project with both hands. Initially David, who does not live in the area, made rapid progress but he soon reached the point where local knowledge and feet on the ground were required.
At first sight, David’s initial questions seemed a little odd –
“Who selected the names to be included on the memorial?” and
“Why were those names selected?”
Like many others, no doubt, I had assumed that there were two main criteria for a name to be included: that the men were born or lived in the village and that they had been lost in battle or died as a result of wounds sustained – the results of David’s early investigations had already indicated that this does not always appear to be the case. So, the above links will take you to the information that we currently have about each of these men – there are still a few “black holes” and if you can help to fill the gaps we would love to hear from you.
In addition to the WW1 names, one other name was added to the memorial following WW2 – Michael Grogan (who actually appears on the memorial as Michail Grogan) – and in 1999 we were approached by the War Graves Commission who informed us that a further soldier, George Roberts, is buried in the churchyard. His grave cannot be identified but a monument has been erected