(As this copy of the birth certificate shows, David was born on 31st July 1923. This post marks his 99th anniversary. He died a few weeks shy of his 21st birthday. I don't know much about him beyond the letters and photographs in the archive which I inherited. What I do know is that he was the youngest of five children, four older sisters: Phyllis May (who was my maternal grandmother) Isabelle, Dorothy and Rosa. The archive letters are written (with one exception) to his mother Elisabeth Amelia Saunders about whom I know very little - and most of that is 'legend' rather than attributable fact. The story I was told (from various sources over time, none of them entirely trustworthy) was that his father (Charles Saunders) was a Russian Jew from Latvia who came over to England around the time of the First Russian Revolution. I've been told variously that Elisabeth Amelia was a servant in his household, that they married and divorced, that they never married, that Charles had another family, that he was held in internment on Isle of Man during the First World War. What is known is that they had children together around 1910, 1912, 1914, 1915 and then David in 1923. My grandmother at times said she came from Wolverhampton - it's unclear whether her unmarried mother went there to give birth or whether there was a family move. I was also given the impression that she 'worked as a servant' in some capacity before she married my grandfather (1930s). From looking at the family tree drawn (not entirely accurately) by my mother, 'Grandma Saunders' as I know her, didn't die till 1972. I have some family photos where I may indeed be sitting on her lap (but it could be my other Grandma, Grandma Christie). I don't have any real memory of her. I did know (vaguely) my great aunts but my own mother's divorce in the 1970s pretty much cut us off from all of her family. So, it's pretty much conjecture apart from the letters/photos. There's certainly no mention of David's father in the letters, so that's an avenue too hard to pursue. To mark David's 99th birthday I'm putting up the photos I have from his childhood, 1920s and early 1930s. I enjoy looking at these pictures as it reminds me that he had in many respects a happy and 'ordinar' childhood... with no idea of what was to come. Thanks to the work of John Henry Phillips, (and the memories of survivor Patrick Thomas) we know that HM LCH 185 (formerly LCI 185) was sunk by an acoustic mine off Sword Beach, near Lion-sur-Mer on Sunday 25th June 1944 with the loss of around 35 lives.
The full crew list went down with the ship, but these are the men believed to have been on board when it was sunk. Alexander Anderson Age 19 James A.Armstrong Age 25 Buried Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery Jack Barringer Age 29 Buried Ranville War Cemetery Alan Raymond Barrs Age 19 Albert Ernest Beers Age 21 Robert Albert Bell Age 23 William Bellenger William Barclay Bremner Age 22 John Robert Bruce Brothers Age 19 George Albert Casselden Age 26 Cyril Walter Clapham Age 22 Geoffrey Dunkerley Age 24 Arthur Greaves Dunn Age 20 Eric Fletcher Age 24 Verna Ford Henry William Jeffrey Age 19 Caruth Main Alan Haigh Maxwell Age 20 Matthew McIver Charles John Munro Age 19 John William Nicholson Age 24 George Albert Paige Age 19 Ronald Charles Patterson Age 19 Dennis William Piper Age 26 John James Rimmer Age 20 Buried Hermanville War Cemetery David Saunders 31/07/1942 (age 20) James Gordon Shepherd Age 30 Kenneth Simpson Age 19 Norman William John Smith Age 20 Robert Henley Tucker Age 35 Frank Groome Waddington Age 31 Robert Wears Arthur Henry Whiston Phillip John Winstanley Age 19 Edward Yates Age 18 Buried Fecamp Communal Cemetery While not all of these men served on 185 when it was an LHI in 1943, some of them may have and if you are related to any of them you may find photographs of them on this site. I'd be most happy to hear from any relatives who can identify people in the pictures. Partial (and not entirely accurate) family tree compiled by my mother Parents: Charles and Amelia Elizabeth Saunders. It is believed that Charles Saunders came over from Latvia prior to the Russian Revolution. It is also suggested that Amelia was a servant in his family house and that he kept another family. Or that he was interred on Isle of Man during WWI. This is all speculation and I have no way of verifying it. There is a gap between the birth of Rosa (c1915) and David (1923) which suggests the parents marriage survived in some form for 15 years or so.
Siblings: David was the youngest of five and the only boy. His elder sisters were: My grandmother Phyllis May who was married to George Ronald Christie. (My mother Elizabeth Anne was born in 1939, my uncle David (named for David Saunders?) around 1941 and uncle Michael in 1943. David refers to Phyllis as 'Phil' and 'Phil's kids' in several letters.) Isabel is frequently referred to in David's letters home (as 'Ding Dong') as well as having some letters written to her in the archive. She seems to have been living at the same address as her mother for much of the war. She would have been aged around 20 at the time. Edith and Rosa, neither of whom are mentioned in these letters. They would have been in their late teens. A well travelled letterThis is the last letter which David's mother wrote to him dated 2rd June 1944. This was just two days before his ship was sunk by an acoustic mine. The journey it took before finally arriving back with her is incredible. The final date stamp is 30th September at East Lothian. I am struck by the insensitivity of returning such a letter, let alone with all the comments on it. Reading each Stamp 'Not Known' 'Address not recorded' 'suggest return to sender' 'undelivered for reason stated' must have been heartbreak upon heartbreak to his mother and speak volumes not just about the style of 'processing' of mail during war, but about the value of a human life. This is made even more poignant when one reads the letter itself. 6/1 Colville Mansions Powis Terrace London W11 23/6/44 My dear David,
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