Lance Corporal ARTHUR ENOS JAMES GODDARD (photo added)

Serviceman Headstone thumbnail image Serviceman grave marker Serviceman thumbnail
Rank Lance Corporal
Forenames ARTHUR ENOS JAMES
Surname GODDARD (photo added)
Initials A E J
Place of Birth Unknown
Date of Birth Unknown
Date of Death Saturday, 24 June 1944
Age 37
Nationality Unknown
Residence or Entered Service From Unknown, UNKNOWN
Service Number 5566312
Force British Army
Service/Corps/Regiment Reconnaissance Corps, Royal Armoured Corps
Unit / Ship / Battalion / Squadron 43 Reconnaissance Regiment (2/5 Battalion, The Glocestershire Regiment) (43rd Wessex Infantry Division)
Military Honours and Awards
Place of Burial/Commemoration BAYEUX MEMORIAL
Roll of honour
Grave/Memorial Location Panel 3.
Previous Place(s) of Burial Unknown
Epitaph NO EPITAPH
Family Details Unknown

Additional Information

 

 

Lance Corporal ARTHUR ENOS JAMES GODDARD.1

 

 

Lance Corporal ARTHUR ENOS JAMES GODDARD was one of many men from 43 Reconnaissance Regiment who were killed on the 24th June 1944, when the ship they were being transported on was blown up by a mine.

 

The ship, Motor Vessel (MV) Derrycunihy Motor Transport Ship (MTS) T72, was anchored off SWORD Beach on the night of the 23rd June 1944. Weather conditions prevented the 600 men from 43 Reconnaissance Regiment disembarking that day. The following morning, the weather had improved and as the captain began preparing to move the ship, a German mine beneath the ship detonated. The DerryCunihy split in two. The forward section of the ship remained afloat but the stern section sank within a minute.

 

An amunition truck on the ship also exploded, and spilled oil and fuel ignited on the surface of the the ship and on the sea around the stricken vessel. 177 men from 43 Reconnaissance Regiment died, Lance Corporal ARTHUR ENOS JAMES GODDARD is one of 167 men whose body was never recovered and who is now commemorated on Bayeux War Memorial. A further 10 men are buried in Normandy. It was the highest single loss of life off the Normandy beaches during the Normandy Campaign in 1944.2

 

 

Motor Vessel (MV) Derrycunihy Motor Transport Ship (MTS) T72,
after being hit by a mine explosion on the 24th June 1944.

 

 

References
1. Photograph kindly provided by Lawrence Gibbard, grandson of Lance Corporal ARTHUR ENOS JAMES GODDARD.
2. Compiled by Carl Shilleto.

 

Acknowledgements and Credits
Source of original data: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Headstone photograph: Carl Shilleto
Cross marker photograph:  
Individual photograph: Lawrence Gibbard, grandson of Lance Corporal ARTHUR ENOS JAMES GODDARD.
Additional photographs provided by: Anne Smith, daughter of Trooper SIDNEY COLE and Carl Shilleto.
Additional information provided by: Carl Shilleto

 

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What other people have said

London england

Lawrence Gibbard

Lance Corporal ARTHUR ENOS JAMES GODDARD thank you Granddad for giving your life so I could live in freedom

On Friday, June 6, 2014