Robert Edge
Memorial: Yate - St Mary's Church Lych Gate
Regiment: Royal Horse Guards
Medals: 1939–45 Star, War Medal 1939–1945
Rank and number: Warrant Officer Class II
Parents: Joseph Albert and Edith Edge
Marital status: Single
Home address: 42 Station Road, Yate, Bristol
Date of birth: 1914
Place of birth: South East London
Date of death: 10/09/1944
Buried/Commemorated at: Phaleron War Cemetery Greece. Memorial St Mary’s Lychgate Yate
Age: 30
Further information:
Robert was the youngest child of a large family of 2 sisters, 2 brothers and 2 step-sisters. At the onset of war, he joined the Horse Guards ((blues), household cavalry branch), which were originally a horsed regiment. The horses were later replaced by vehicles, so Robert’s burial documents record that he served in the Royal Armoured Corps. Robert fought in the Middle East where he was taken prisoner and deported to Larissa in Greece - the location of his first grave. Larissa was the site of a concentration camp under the control of the Germans in 1944. Allied POWs awaiting transfer to Italy and Jews awaiting transfer to Auschwitz were detained there. The conditions at the camp were extremely bad with prisoners subjected to starvation, beatings and execution without trial. Many inmates also died from malaria. Robert’s body was exhumed in June 1945 and reburied in Phaleron War Cemetery.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/GERMAN%20CONCENTRATION%20CAMPS_0001.pdf
Rodogno D; Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation During the Second World War - Page 359
Megargee GP, White J R; The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933 – 1945 - Pages 519 - 520