John Wilkinson and his wife Sara
 

 


This is the family grave of my grandparents  John and Rose Duggan (nee O'Neill) and my uncle was Philip Hugh Duggan - he was killed on 15 November 1942 aged 23. My understanding was this was just after the battle of Tobruk which he had come through, but he was in a vehicle when an aircraft came over - they all jumped out and lay on the ground when he was killed. He was a Gunner in the 4 Survey Regiment in the Royal Artillery. The Duggan family lived in The Drive, Felling.

"I am grateful to Kathryn Duggan, granddaughter of John & Rose, for supplying the family  photographs and the above information".

Gunner Philip Hugh Duggan

953585 Gunner Philip Hugh Duggan was in the 4th Survey Regiment Royal Artillery. He died on 15/11/1942. He was the son of John Duggan, and of Rose Duggan, of Felling, Gateshead, Co. Durham. He is buried in the Tobruk War Cemetery, Grave/Memorial Reference: 1. H. 8.

Above Right: Nov 1941

John Duggan & Rose O'Neill

John Duggan, St Johns Senior School. Felling

John & Rose Duggan. c1930
 

 

The Duggan family grave is tucked away in the far south-east corner of the graveyard near the Sunderland Rd boundary wall and the large hedge near the main entrance. The graves in this section were moved here from the north and west part of the graveyard, to allow the road to be widened  when the Heworth bus terminus and Metro Station was built. A plaque on the west wall confirms this.
This section was never transcribed, as when the old graveyard was being indexed it was ignored as it was thought to be part of the newer Heworth cemetery. I am have been busy transcribing these 'missing' graves, but it will take a while as here are several hundred. I will add the MI to this site and give a copy to the local archives and local history libraries once completed. Many of the memorials, headstones and monuments do not face the usual west/east orientation (as with the Duggan family headstone) and appear to have been randomly placed.

 

Tobruk War Cemetery

Tobruk is a Mediterranean port with an excellent deep water harbour. During the war it was important to Allied and Axis forces alike, for the reception of supplies and reinforcements. In January 1941, it was taken from the Italians by General Wavell's forces, and after the clearance of the demolitions in the harbour the port was usable and proved invaluable. When Rommel commenced his drive across Cyrenaica towards Suez it was deemed essential that Tobruk be held, and the resulting siege lasted from 11 April to 10 December 1941, when the Axis forces were driven back. They recovered far more quickly than was expected and by early February 1942, it was the Allies turn to fall back towards a line running southwards from Gazala to Bir Hakeim. Again orders were given to hold Tobruk, but it fell to Rommel on 21 June. It was retaken five months later by the Eighth Army in their final sweep along the North African coast into Tunisia. Tobruk War Cemetery incorporates the burial ground used during the siege and the memorial erected there at the time by the Australians has been replaced by a permanent memorial of similar design. Many battlefield graves in the desert have been brought into the cemetery. There are now 2,282 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated in Tobruk War Cemetery. 171 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate a number of casualties known or believed to be buried among them. The cemetery also contains 171 war graves of other nationalities, most of them Polish.

 

 

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