Cemeteries everywhere are full of unidentified service members killed in war. They symbolise the ultimate sacrifice of the many fallen without a known grave. But the mystery of one such brave Yorkshireman who died at the hands of the German army in a tiny Flemish village during WW2 and whose remains lie in a Belgian cemetery, has finally been unravelled. And all thanks to the painstaking research of a couple of determined Belgian ‘sleuths’.
Dirk Van Melkebeke and Willy Roggeman found that an administrative error on paperwork after his death was why what became of Yorkshireman Fred Tingle never came to light. As a result of their work, his identity was established, along with his final resting place.
In belated honour of Trooper Tingle’s sacrifice, a formal rededication ceremony will be held at Heverlee War Cemetery in Flanders on 25 March.
Who was Fred Tingle?
Fred was born in Castleford, West Yorkshire in 1920, twin brother to Fern, and son of William Tingle, a coal miner, and Annie Hepples (his second wife) in a family of 11 children.
Fred Tingle became a soldier with the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, which had operated since 1922 and, just before the outbreak of WW2, became part of the newly-formed Royal Armoured Corps. The regiment was part of the British Expeditionary Force deployed to mainland Europe for reconnaissance shortly after war broke out.
Fern Tingle’s granddaughter, Linda Robshaw says, “My dad believed that Fred joined up as a boy soldier, as photos show him with a uniform and a sword from prior to early 1938.”
When the Germans launched their invasion of the low countries on 10 May 1940 they forced a retreat of the British forces. The 5th fought a fierce rearguard action as it made its way back to Dunkirk. On 19 May, during the retreat, Fred Tingle was killed in action. The regiment eventually reached Dunkirk on 29 May 1940.
Tingle’s body was recovered and buried in Huigeveldstraat in Sint Antelinks, a village 37km west of Brussels, and locals managed the upkeep of his grave through the rest of the war.
When the British Army recovered Tingle’s body in 1946, it proved impossible to reconcile all the records. His remains were exhumed and he was reinterred at Heverlee War Cemetery, Leuven as an ‘unknown soldier’ – one of 37 unidentified Commonwealth burials of the second world war.
Making the connections
Recent research by Dirk Van Melkebeke, as part of the background for a book on the impact of the second world war in Herzele, found key documents which proved the location where the ‘unknown soldier’ was recovered from was identical to that of a soldier who had been carrying an identification disc. Letters and papers he was carrying bore addresses in West Yorkshire. Eventually, all the evidence pointed to the unnamed grave at Heverlee being that of Trooper Tingle.
Van Melkebeke says, “In the territory of Herzele, which was in the British sector of the front from 11 to 19 May 1940, three British soldiers were killed: a pilot crashed his Hawker-Hurricane on 16 May on the territory of Ressegem and was temporarily buried in the cemetery under an anonymous cross. A second soldier was killed on 19 May and was buried in the old cemetery of Sint-Lievens-Esse. He was Albert Thompson. A third soldier died on the territory of Sint-Antelinks on 19 May and was also temporarily buried there in an improvised grave along the Huigeveldstraat. The pilot and the fallen in Sint-Antelinks were exhumed after the war and reburied in the British military cemetery of Heverlee in an anonymous grave.”
All down to administrative error
While looking for more information about the last of these servicemen, Van Melkebeke discovered a report in the municipal archives of Herzele. An administrative error had given the name as ‘anonymous’, although the man was identified further on in the report.
Willy Roggeman, who collects items related to the history of Sint-Antelinks, says, “I wanted to document what his final resting place was but I couldn’t find it. Fred was mentioned on a Dunkirk Memorial and on a Memorial in Castleford in Yorkshire but there was no sign of his grave.” Unfortunately, when he tracked down family members, they didn’t know where he was buried either.
But, in R Evans’s book The story of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, the author describes what happened on the day Fred Tingle died and shows how his name was mistakenly typed as ‘Pringle’ instead of Tingle.
Roggeman says, “We think Fred Tingle got injured and died while they were retreating and passed by our village. He was buried not very deep by the English army – they didn’t have much time – and, after 15 minutes, the Germans arrived and they buried him deeper.”
Identifying Trooper Tingle
Until 1946 the Belgian Resistance had held regular speeches at his grave; and Roggeman discovered photos showing resistance members at Tingle’s temporary grave in Sint-Antelinks from around 1943. A town register held a list of foreign servicemen buried there which also helpfully listed all the objects Fred had on him when he died.
Roggeman states, “They mistakenly registered the soldier as unknown (in the document and on his grave). They probably thought Tingle F was part of his regiment number. This could explain why we couldn’t find where he was buried.”
“In 2022, Dirk obtained a document that describes the origin of an unknown grave at the War Cemetery in Heverlee. The date of death and the coordinates corresponded with the temporary grave of Fred Tingle in our village.”
All the findings were submitted to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).
Surviving family
Linda Robshaw’s late grandmother, Fern, was Fred’s twin sister.
Sadly, all of Freddie’s siblings are now deceased, and none of the surviving family can attend the service, but Linda, now living in California, says, “We’re so happy to finally know where Freddie is. I know my grandmother would have been so relieved. Having him go MIA [missing in action] during the war and never knowing what happened to him, she would want me to pass on her never-ending thanks to the Belgians who found him for us. We’re happy to know he’s getting his final resting place.”
The rededication service
The final chapter of Trooper Tingle’s story will play out next week at his rededication service which will be led by Padre David Jeal, current chaplain to the Royal Dragoon Guards. A representative of the regiment will be present, plus a bugler and a piper. Other invitees are an alderwoman from Leuven, a representative of the Belgian Defence Forces, a representative of the Royal British Legion in Brussels, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). And Dirk Van Meklebeke and Will Roggeman, of course.
A source at the UK Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (UKJCCC) said, “Fred never had a proper military funeral, acknowledging who he was or the sacrifice he made. If he was lucky the local people would have given some sort of prayers when they buried him, and a military Padre might have said a prayer when he was reburied in the post war years, but none of them really knew who he was.
“The rededication service is a chance to right that – it includes a blessing of the grave, and an acknowledgement that we now know the man interred there, and the importance of that. It also includes the Last Post and Reveille, prayers, the Exhortation and Kohima Epitaph.”
Tingle’s story is just one among the vast numbers the UKJCCC deals with, with over 500,000 people still missing (a number that includes those lost or buried at sea). But it also shows that when someone is identified, it is all the more special.
The service on 25 March will make a fitting epitaph to a young man whose life ended all too early through war.
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