Killed on Active Service

[KatieB]

My Grandmothers cousin William Cummings was killed in the middle east while on active service with the RAF in 1943.
I cannot find him on the CWGC site so am assuming it was due to an accident of some kind.
Where could I find anymore information? I know he joined the RAF in about 1937 and was 26 when he died

[Geoffers]

The CWGC site should be complete. Failure to find someone is usually down to information being incorrectly remembered or recorded by family.

Do you have his death certificate whihc records when and where he died?

I have just searched the index to RAF war deaths looking for any CUM(M)IN(G)(S) and found the following:

Richard W CUMING, F/Sgt 1339994, 31 Sqdn, 1945, v4, p95
William J CUMING, Sgt, 1182529, 107 Sqdn, 1941, v4, p95
James W CUMMING, AC1, 523342, 144 Sqdn, 1939, v4, p95
John W CUMMINGS, Sgt, 1334212, 166 Sqdn, 1943, v4 p96
William CUMMINGS, Cpl, 524108, 4SPTS Habbeniya, 1941, v4, p97
William CUMMINS, Sgt, 1881267, 166 Sqdn, 1945, v4, p97
continued......

[Geoffers]

CWGC shows:
Richard William CUMING died aged 22, Singapore memorial
William John CUMING died aged 20, Runnymede memorial
John William CUMMING, died aged 25 (Canadian), Beck Row (St.John) Churchyard
Jack William CUMMINGS, died aged 22, Reichswald Forest War Cememtery
William CUMMINGS, no age given, Habbaniya War Cememtery, Iraq
William CUMMINS, died aged 31, Rheinberg War Cemetery.

It looks like William Cummings who is buried at Habbaniya is the closest match to the details you supplied.

CWGC includes deaths by accident.

Geoffers

[KatieB]

We have the newspaper cutting reporting his death but it was not dated but a family source said it was 1943.
Thank you very much for the help, sometimes it takes a fresh brain.

[KatieB]

Have just input the death information in my family tree program, and have realised his little sister died just 20 days later, but on her death notices it states her 2 of her brothers are on active sevice (she had 3 brothers) and no mention of Willies death,
How long would notification of the family have taken ?

[Geoffers]

Have just input the death information in my family tree program, and have realised his little sister died just 20 days later, but on her death notices it states her 2 of her brothers are on active sevice (she had 3 brothers) and no mention of Willies death,
How long would notification of the family have taken ?
In time of war, it would depend entirely on circumstances of death and communications. I would imagine that in the case of an air crew dying in the Middle East, it might take several weeks for information to get home

Geoffers

[KatieB]

Thanks, it was Dora's death notice that made me so sure he died later than '41.