Notes
Recovered 21.08.2023 from https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2770636/william-edward-biles/
LANCE CORPORAL WILLIAM EDWARD BILES
Service Number: S/74275
Royal Army Service Corps 2 Field Bakery
Date of Death 17 June 1940 Age 38 years old
Commemorated at DUNKIRK MEMORIAL Column 134.
Son of John and Connie Biles; husband of Theresa Gertrude Biles, of Chideock, Dorsetshire.
https://chideockandseatown.co.uk/ww2-war-memorial/william-biles/
The sheer size of the Lancastria disaster and the fact that the troopship sank in the estuary of the River Loire, trapping many people inside the hull, means that a great many of the bodies were never recovered. A considerable number of those who escaped the sinking never had life jackets and could not swim. It is a fact that bodies were found weeks and, in some cases, months later, north and south of Saint-Nazaire, along the French coast; some more than one hundred miles from where the Lancastria sank. Therefore this exercise almost becomes paradoxical, as it is virtually impossible to gain knowledge of the exact numbers of personnel lost on that fateful day. The following lists are of either those found and buried ashore, or reported to be on board at the time of the sinking and presumed to be lost in the action. Others, who were supposedly recorded, died from injuries on the way back to England and were buried at sea. There are some names included who may not have been aboard the ship at all, but whose date of death are given, in some cases, from a date late in May 1940 to a date either on or after the sinking.