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Second Lieutenant Allan Gladstone DOW – Dartford in the Great War

by Stephen Wynn on October 27, 2017

My thanks to Cllr David Hurley of Gravesham Borough Council who spotted something on page 84 of the book.. Part of what I have written about Second Lieutenant Allan Gladstone DOW, reads as follows.

“His Medal Index Card shows a strange entry. Somebody has hand written, ‘Killed 17-8-17’. The word killed has at a later time been crossed through and replaced with ‘Drowned.”

David Hurley e-mailed me with the following.

“I can explain. I visited Watling Street Cemetery, Dartford, where Lt DOW is buried. His headstone reads: “Lt Allan George (Note: Not “Gladstone”) DOW, RFC Drowned after a collision in the air while flying at Joyce Green Airfield, Dartford, 17 August 1917. Aged 22. Erected by Brother Officers, No. 63 Training Squadron, RFC.”

Apparently, Lieutenant DOW collided in mid-air with another aircraft and crashed into the River Thames, where he drowned.

The Commonwealth War Graves website, shows his middle name as Gladstone.

 

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