Week 21 - Military - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 21 has the theme of Military, and I have a number of military records from my family.  My father, several uncles, great uncles, cousins once and twice removed, and other various family members served in the two World Wars, and we were incredibly lucky to have the majority of them return.  In fact, with the exception a second cousin once removed, all those who fought in the war,  on both my mother's and father's sides of the family, returned home.  Our only immediate loss was my mother's middle brother, James Pummeroy, who died in 1947 in Argentina, while serving in the Merchant Navy.  Clearly in our family, you were safer on the front lines!

James Pummeroy, last photo taken before his death.

James Pummeroy was born 6th July 1927 and was killed in Argentina 5th October 1947, technically after the war was over, when he fell between his ship and the wharf and was drowned.  The ship was in Argentina to pick up a load of horses to transport to Poland as part of the rebuilding of Europe. 

While my grandmother would very rarely talk about his loss, my mother, who was only 5 years old when her brother died, could remember the arrival of the telegram informing the family of his death.  Although the family had very little money, my grandparents spent several years sending money overseas to pay for the grave plot where he was buried, although I do not know if the grave still survives.  Although all the family were Anglican, James was buried in a Catholic cemetery, and the Argentinian priest who officiated sent the family a set of black and white photographs of the funeral, complete with black hearse drawn by four black horses with large feathered plumes.