Cleator Moor World War Records

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Hugh Fleming

Pvt
Hugh Fleming

Military Details

Service Number: 3600375

Regiment & Unit / Ship

5th Border Regiment

Enlistment Details

Rank at Enlistment

Pte.

Battalion at Enlistment

5th

Service Number at Enlistment

3600375

Service History

Battalion War Diary Extract

The Borders history by Shears states the following:

At 8am (30th May) the battalion reached Uxem on the Dunkirk Perimeter and took up a defensive position on the line of the Canal des Chats. This posistion was manned by the 5th Battalion in the centre, with the 1st East Lancs on the right and the 3rd Coldstream Guards of the left. There was odd shelling and much aerial activity all day. At 4am on the 31st the enemy carried out a heavy artillery bombardment, followed by an attack on the canal, on the front of the 1st Division, to which the Brigade had been attached. The attack was repulsed. In this attack all four companies of the battalion were in the front line. C Company suffered severely from heavy shell and mortar fire.

A detachment of seventy men of the South Lancashire Regiment, which had joined the battalion at Rousbrugge-Harringhe, was given to C Company to make up their strength.

That evening orders were received to send back to the beaches at Dunkirk all men who were not urgently required.

On the 1st June the enemy artillery increased, and C Company again suffered heavily, whilst A Company had several casualties.

Private L Wilson, a stretcher bearer in C Company, with three other stretcher bearers, went out in the face of heavy enemy fire to collect wounded. His three companions were all shot, but he continued alone and suceeded in bringing in a total of eight men, carrying them in his arms unaided. He was awarded the Military Medal.

That night the battalion withdrew to the beaches, covered by the Carrier Platoon, still commanded by 2/Lieut. Musgrave, who later was awarded the Military Cross for his gallant work throuout the whole period of the Operation

Transfer Details

Regiment Transferred To

Border Regiment

Personal Details

Date of Birth

16th April 2026

Address

The Bungalows, Cleator Moor

Parents

William & Julia

Siblings

Mary Catherine , Margaret Ellen

Education and Occupation

School

St Patricks

Death and Memorial

Date of Death

28th May 1940

Age at Death

25

Circumstances of Death

Pte Hugh Fleming was from Cleator Moor, Cumberland and was initially reported missing. His family received word of his death much later, presumably after his body was found and identified (which may partly explain the somewhat unusual assumed date of death by the CWGC). The exact location of his grave seems to have been lost when the cemetery was flooded by the Germans in 1944.

Theater of Action

Dunkirk

Battle

Belgium and France

Regiment at Death

Border Regiment

Battalion/Vessel at Death

5th Bttn

Rank at Death

Pte.

Buried or Commemorated at

Grave of Hugh Fleming

Les Moeres Communal Cemetery

France

Grave Position: Sp. Mem. Row B. Grave 16.

Private Memorial: Cleator Moor Roll of Honour

View Cemetery Record open_in_new

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