Trail gets warmer in German tank tragedy hunt for Mansfield soldier's lost family

The Chad recently featured a plea by German amateur historian Debbie Bülau hoping to trace the family of Guardsman Anthony Granville Frank Walter Taylor-Hurst

He was 19 when the Sherman tank he was in exploded as it passed over a bridge at Kutenholz, near Hamburg, on May 1, 1945.

Four other Cold Stream Guards were killed in the tragedy which happened a week before the Second World War ended, on May 8.

Taylor-Hurst and comrades, Lance Sergeant John Thomas Green, 25, Guardsmen Ronald Gilbert Moore, 21, Stanley Somerset, 19, and Frank Lock, 27, were among 14 British soldiers who died in the area.

Among the other men, was a former royal body guard to Queen Elizabeth and sister Margaret, when they were young princesses.

The soldiers have since been memorialised by the German people, and remembered at the Becklingen War Cemetery. Efforts were also made by Debbie and other historians to trace the soldiers’ families in England.

The discovery of human bones and tank parts near the explosion site saw DNA samples sent away for analysis, and appeals made for the soldiers’ blood relatives to come forward to establish identity.

It was hoped Taylor-Hurst (although it wasn’t clear in records if he was Hurst-Taylor), born in 1926, in Mansfield may still have family in the area.

Debbie says she has been emailed with new information concerning a possible connection Rose nee Cooper, Taylor-Hurst’s mother.

“It is believed Rose had three children, Travers, Jim and Anthony Granville.

“Travers and Jim both married and had two children each. Travers had a daughter, Jennifer and son Michael. Jim had a daughter, Patricia and a son, Granville. They all continued to live in the Mansfield area."

Whether Travers and Jim are still alive is not known, and it is possible there are no longer any blood relatives.

However Debbie said: “With this new information, we hope it will help us find his family. The story about our search is to be on ITV. I have a good feeling about finding his existing family.”

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