THE family of a Warrington soldier killed attempting to liberate a Dutch village, has now been traced thanks to the granddaughter of a former comrade.
As Dutchman Jürgen Beekers, who helps care for war graves in a village in the Netherlands embarked on his bid to trace the family of Warrington soldier Rifleman Walter Senior, who was killed in action during the Second World War, he came into contact with Jill Fox, a member of the Facebook group Warrington Family tree & Genealogy pages.
After a face was put to the name Jürgen then came into contact with Margaret Condliffe, a daughter of Elsie Senior, a sister of Walter.
Margaret revealed there are many relatives of Walter around the U.K., and also in Australia. One of these included Ian Senior, the son of Alan Senior, a brother of Walter.
Ian had never seen Walter’s previously published photo. He said: “It’s amazing to see another photo of my uncle for the first time. He did look like my dad!
“We only have a single picture of him where he was standing with another soldier who we believe was called Fred Bucknel. The photo was taken in Helmond Holland on 9-10-44, so shortly before his death”.
Jürgen said: “This is exactly my goal to get in touch with the family because through my research I can provide the family with information that was not yet known to them.”
The photo was taken about three weeks before Walter’s death. Walter is pictured on the right at Helmond with his comrade Fred Bucknel. Helmond is a city in the Netherlands and is located about 10 miles from the location where Walter eventually fell.
Jürgen added: “After its liberation on 25 September, Helmond was an important garrison-city and many units went to this city after a period at the front for rest, refit and additional training.
“Walter’s unit, the 9th Battalion Cameronians, also went to this city after an intensive period at the front for the necessary rest. The Battalion arrived here on October 3, 1944 and would stay there until October 19, 1944.
“After this, the battalion was deployed in “Operation Pheasant”, the liberation of central Noord-Brabant (Noord-Brabant is a province in the Netherlands) where it was deployed, among other things, in the liberation of Tilburg (a large city in North Brabant).
“Immediately after the liberation of Tilburg (27 October 1944), the battalion was urgently moved to the village of Deurne (in the east of Noord-Brabant) in the morning of 29 October 1944 to stop a German counter-attack. Unfortunately, Walter was killed in action during an attack by the battalion from Deurne towards the village of Liessel on October 31, 1944.
Jürgen started his research for The Foundation for Adoption Graves Nederweert War Cemetery which has set up a school project for primary schools in the municipality of Nederweert. This will now include the story of Walter.
Rifleman Senior, who was born in Warrington and worked as a fruit seller, was killed in action aged 26, serving with the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division during the liberation of Neerkant and is one of 363 war graves being cared for by local villagers.
Due to his knowledge of the events during the Second World War in the Meijel/Neerkant/Liessel region Jürgen, who was born and grew up in Neerkant, a small village near Meijel, has now been tasked with helping put faces to those who sacrificed their lives to help liberate the Netherlands.
Anyone with further information on Walter Senior’s family can contact [email protected]
