COSENS, WILLIAM JOHN

Birthdate

1920-06-26

Birthplace

Fisherton, Manitoba, Canada

Age

24

Parents

Son of Russell and Ella Cosens of Fisherton, Manitoba, Canada

Religion

Church of England

Occupation

Machinist

Service number

H/59678

Engagement

1941-01-11

Disembarked

1944-09-08, France

Date of death

1944-10-27

Died

Killed in action, Netherlands

Force

Army

Rank

Private

Regiment

Algonquin Regiment, R.C.I.C.

Fallen Buddies

HENRY, JOSEPH

RATTE, CHARLES AIME AURELIEN

Awards

Plot 12 | Row G | Grave 3

"SINCE YOU WERE CALLED TO REST HOW I REMEMBER THAT SAD DAY. 'TWAS YOU I LOVED BEST"

Military grave

View larger map

Additional info

Some files indicate that William died on October 20, 1944 while others read October 27, 1944. The Algonquin war diary doesn't report any casualties on the 27th and William was temporary buried among 2 other war dead from the Algonquin, that died on the 20th. If he was killed in action on the 20th, he died in Belgium.

Had 1 brother, James Cosens, in the army Overseas. He is not reported as a war dead.

Fallen buddies: The list of names from these soldiers are those that were temporary buried (military grave) on the same location before they eventually were reburied at the Adegem War Cemetery in Belgium.

There might be an age difference between the profile and headstone. The age on the profile comes from the soldier's service records. It's well known that some lied about their age.

Military grave coordinations are not always spot on, but pretty accurate to the map references in the soldier's service records.

Resources

Personal details have been collected from official Service Records and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. Some of the additional information has been provided by War Diaries, Libera Me (G.E. Spittael), Polder Fighting (R.W. Catsburg), Veterans Affairs Canada, WW2 Talk, Aircrew Remembered and other sources. The commonwealth-adegem.com website is not responsible for incorrect information.

It took me 2 years of preparation and it will take about 2 years to proces all the data into this website. So, please contact me if you'd like to use some of the information from this website. Everything has been collected and processed voluntarily, during the few free hours, by Michael van de Velde, Netherlands. Along the way I had great support from expert researchers. Thank you!