While we are ‘only’ 80 years on from the end of the Second World War, I have found seven of the names impossible to trace, or possible to trace but not to link to Bearsden. This is nearly one in ten of the WW2 names. Don’t forget the starting point is literally a list of names on a monument – there is no known supporting documentation for who proposed each individual for inclusion or the checks that were done on eligibility.
I am recording their names here and including notes of the searches I have undertaken in the hope either someone knows more about this man, or that others will take up the challenge.
I have posted a full profile of John Thomlinson already; the other six are as follows:
Charles Bromley. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission register of war dead lists three people with a name of Charles and a surname of Bromley:
Charles Frederick Bromley was an Australian fighter pilot shot down over Papua New Guinea
Arthur Charles Bromley was in the RNVR. He died at a training base in Egypt in 1941 and his parents came from Milnathort, Kinrss-shire.
Ythil Charles Lewis Bromley was the Master of a merchant navy ship who died in August 1945. He lived in Kent.
There is no obvious link from any of these to Bearsden and in 1940 nobody lived in Bearsden with the surname Bromley. There are no mentions of this name in the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald in the war years.
William M. Christie. The CWGC Register identifies two possibilities. William Mackensie Christie was the master of a Merchant Navy ship who died in the Atlantic in 1943. While Scottish, he seems to have no link to Bearsden. William Morton Christie was a sergeant in the Royal Australian Air Force who died in France in 1944. His father had the same name but I have not found a trail back to Bearsden.
The Milngavie and Bearsden Herald does not mention a death in the war years.
Scotland’s People lists two deaths in the war years but the William M Christies were 51 in Inverurie and 56 years of age on Bute, so unlikely to be connected.
Ian MacLeod. CWGC identifies two candidates. Private Ian MacLeod was in the military police but seems to have died at Dingwall in 1943, aged 24. While there was an Ian MacLeod born in Govan in 1919, the names of the parents on his birth record (John and Marion) do not quite match those in CWGC (John and Margaret). Flight Lieutenant Ian MacLeod was 27 when he died, but his parents were from Condorrat and he is buried in Cumbernauld.
I have checked the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald but it has no mention of deaths with this name in the war years.
Ian Ross. The only person matching this name on the CWGC Register is Ian Stuart Ross, a South African airman killed by flak while flying in a Douglas Boston bomber during operations in North Africa. He was born in Johannesburg and while his father was a Lieutenant Colonel in a Scottish Regiment and was born in Scotland, there is no obvious link to Bearsden. The Milngavie and Bearsden Herald does not seem to mention anyone of this name.
John Walker. CWGC identifies 55 men with this name. The Milngavie and Bearsden Herald is not any help in narrowing this down.
George Wilson. CWGC identifies 58 men with this name. The Milngavie and Bearsden Herald is not any help in narrowing this down.