Nostalgia: Do you remember the Rosenthals?

Ludwig Rosenthal had lived in St Mary’s Road, Leamington, with his father Felix and mother Bertha. It’s possible the Jewish family fled Germany before the start of the Second World War to escape the rise of the Nazi party.

In England 19-year-old Ludwig volunteered to join the Pioneer Corps shortly before the mass evacuation of allied troops from Dunkirk.

With a German invasion expected any time, Britain’s beaches were strewn with more than 350,000 mines. But the invasion never came.

And by 1942, there was fresh heart among the military as top secret plans for the D-Day landings started to be made. Soon it was realised the beach mines intended to hamper the Germans would also be a hinderence to our own soldiers.

On April of that year Ludwig, by then aged 23, was among 18 servicemen drafted in to the Milford Haven barracks at Pembroke Docks to learn how to set about the mammoth task of defusing the mines.

In the barracks’ canteen, Major Theodore Garratt of the Pioneer Regiment began his demonstration of how best to deal with the devices.

Tragically, something went wrong. The mine exploded and all 19 men died.

But Ludwig’s remains were not buried alongside his comrades in the military cemetery at the docks. It was thought he was given a funeral at Willesdon Jewish Cemetery in London, but enquiries there have drawn a blank.

Now 70 years on, members of the Sunderland Trust, who want to commemorate the dockyard’s history and its famous flying boat aircraft, are keen to discover whether anyone in Leamington can remember the young man and his family.

Trust member Ian MacRae said: “There is no longer a synagogue in the town so we are pinning our hopes on somebody in the local Jewish community remembering the Rosenthals.

“If so we would like to contact any surviving relatives or friends and invite them to attend the anniversary commemoration at the docks on April 28. At that time we will be remembering not only those who died at the barracks but also five firemen who died the same day fighting a huge oil tank fire that engulfed the town after one of many air raids.”

Mr MacRae added: “We have already traced the surviving relatives of several of those killed in the barracks explosion but the leads we have about Private Rosenthal have all come to nothing.

“We do know his father, Felix, died in Leicestershire in 1952. But of his mother, or any possible brothers or sisters, we know nothing.”

At the time a security blanket was thrown over the tragedies because of the damaging effects they would have on national morale.

A Sunderland flying boat has been restored to mark the anniversary which will be attended by representatives of The Royal Engineers, Bomb Disposal Units, the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, the Pioneers, The Jewish Ex-Servicemen’s Association and British Legion.

Anybody who remembers the Rosenthal family is asked to ring Barbara Goulden on 457726 or email [email protected]