In addition to the 16 WW1 soldiers, Winterton Town Council approved the addition to the war memorial of five WW2 casualties who have connections with the town. Below are the stories of two of the men...
4799746 Serjeant Leslie William Hazel - 8th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
Leslie was born on 12th April 1911, in the Ecclesall Bierlow registration district, and was the son of James William and Sarah Ann HAZEL. Sadly his mother died in the same year.
His father remarried, and the 1937 Winterton electoral register shows his father and stepmother living at 49 Earlsgate.
On 3rd December 1938, at St Paul’s Church, Ashby, Leslie married Jessie Ellis FOX. According to a newspaper report of the time, Leslie had up to that point served with the Lincolnshire Regiment for seven and a half years, with the last three years in Hong Kong and India. Later reports state that he was a Company Quarter Master Sergeant and had formerly been employed at Lysaghts for a number of years, before being called up as a Reservist.
Jessie died in 1942 and by then, Leslie was in the 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment.
At some point, Leslie joined 8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry and on 9th September 1944, aged 33, he was killed in action in a small village during fighting to establish a bridgehead across the Albert Canal. Leslie is buried in Geel (Stelen) churchyard, Belgium. A letter from the Padre stated that his grave was covered with flowers by the villagers.
Leslie’s father and stepmother continued to live at 49 Earlsgate after the war, up to at least 1951 and are buried in Winterton Cemetery.
Photo: Scunthorpe and Frodingham Star
His father remarried, and the 1937 Winterton electoral register shows his father and stepmother living at 49 Earlsgate.
On 3rd December 1938, at St Paul’s Church, Ashby, Leslie married Jessie Ellis FOX. According to a newspaper report of the time, Leslie had up to that point served with the Lincolnshire Regiment for seven and a half years, with the last three years in Hong Kong and India. Later reports state that he was a Company Quarter Master Sergeant and had formerly been employed at Lysaghts for a number of years, before being called up as a Reservist.
Jessie died in 1942 and by then, Leslie was in the 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment.
At some point, Leslie joined 8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry and on 9th September 1944, aged 33, he was killed in action in a small village during fighting to establish a bridgehead across the Albert Canal. Leslie is buried in Geel (Stelen) churchyard, Belgium. A letter from the Padre stated that his grave was covered with flowers by the villagers.
Leslie’s father and stepmother continued to live at 49 Earlsgate after the war, up to at least 1951 and are buried in Winterton Cemetery.
Photo: Scunthorpe and Frodingham Star
1577142 Flight Sergeant Air Gunner Frank Norman Holmes - 582 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Frank was born about 1921 and was the son of Arthur Richard and Edith E HOLMES.
Frank died on 4th May 1944, aged 23. The Lancaster Mk III Bomber (ND910 code 60-F) took off from a station (airfield) in or near Little Staughton, Bedfordshire at 22:57hrs. The task was to bomb the aerodrome at Montdidier, France, but the Lancaster crashed at Beaulieu-les-Fontaines (Oise), north west of Noyon. Frank is buried in St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France.
The 1951 Winterton electoral register shows his parents living at 9 Queen Street.
Frank died on 4th May 1944, aged 23. The Lancaster Mk III Bomber (ND910 code 60-F) took off from a station (airfield) in or near Little Staughton, Bedfordshire at 22:57hrs. The task was to bomb the aerodrome at Montdidier, France, but the Lancaster crashed at Beaulieu-les-Fontaines (Oise), north west of Noyon. Frank is buried in St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France.
The 1951 Winterton electoral register shows his parents living at 9 Queen Street.
Photos by kind permission of Robert Lingard, Curator, Elsham Wold Air Museum