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The (short) story of Stanley Mathews and John Thorogood (21-9-1944)


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This is the short story of the death of two young tankers in 4 troop, C-squadron, 44th Royal Tank Regiment. They are named Stan Matthews and John Thorogood.

 

John_Thorogood.jpg

John 'Jack' Thorogood

 

Stanley_Matthews.jpg

Stanley Matthews

 

They both died on september 21st 1944 when their Sherman Firefly tank got hit twice by a german AT gun as they were advancing from the town of Sint-Oedenrode (near Veghel) towards the tiny hamlet of Olland. Together with a second tank they advanced without infantery and got hit when they came to a bend in the road. The driver (Stanley) was killed immediately so the tank rolled on uncontrollable untill it hit a tree stopped there. The second tank retreated and was not hit. You can clearly see both holes in the frontal armour and the tree that was taken a few hits too.

 

Firefly.jpg

 

John Thorogood (gunner) escaped from the then burning tank but was killed by rifle / machinegun fire as he tried to make his way back towards the Allied lines. The other two crew members, lieutenant David Cohen and the wireless operator (name unknown) escaped but were severly wounded.

 

John's brother, George, wrote a book about it: "proven beyond doubt". It describes the history of this event in more detail and the help he got from the local Dutch people who helped him in his search for the truth.

 

A while ago I went to the same location and took the following photo's:

 

The location where the tank was hit, the house has been modernised, the road widened and the ditch has made way for a bicycle path.

overview.jpg

 

The approx site where the tank ended against a tree, unfortunantely the tree is gone now. now.jpg

 

In 1994 a small monument was erected to the memory of these soldiers. It says:

21-9-1944

John Thorogood

Stanley Mathews

Hun jonge leven hier gegeven (Their young lives given here)

Monument.jpg

 

They were buried side by side in a field near the tank and were relocated in june 1946 to the Uden War Cemetery.

Uden%20Cemetery.jpg

 

They still lie side by side, Matthews on the left and Thorogood on the right.

graves.jpg

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