Vears | Alfred John
Biography
Alfred John Vears (Service No. 14400258) was killed in action on 14 October 1944 aged just 18. He was a Corporal in the 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment. He was initially buried at the farm of the Vogelsangs family in Overloon and subsequently re-interred on 15 July, 1946 in grave I. C. 12 at the Overloon Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Overloon. His inscription reads “Dear are the memories silently kept of one we lost and will never forget R.I.P.”
Military career
Alfred John Vears enlisted on 23 July 1942 in Birmingham. He stated that he was born in the Ladywood Parish of Birmingham on 21 June 1924, though in fact he was born in 1926 so was underage at 16 rather than 18. He gave his address as 53 Yockleton Road, Lea Hall, Birmingham and named his father, Harry Vears, at this same address as his next of kin. He gave his occupation as a Hawker and his religion as Church of England. He was described as being 5ft 5 ½ in tall, weighed 126 lbs and had blue eyes and fair hair. He was Grade 1 medically fit.
On enlistment, he was immediately sent to the Territorial Reserves, only being required to join full time on 3 September 1942 when he joined the General Service Corps and was assigned to 72nd Primary Training Wing as a Private. He was transferred to No 22 Infantry Training Centre of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 14 October 1942 and was posted to the 70th Battalion on 19 November 1942, still as a Private.
On 13 February 1943 he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment. He was put on an Xii list on 19/1/1944 implying some sort of injury or illness. He was assigned back to the 2nd Battalion ten days later.
On 6 March 1944 he was confined to barracks for 8 days and had a day’s pay deducted for being absent without leave from 2359 hrs on 3 March to 1000 hrs on 4 March – a total of 10 hours and 1 minute.
He embarked for Europe with his battalion on 5 June 1944 and arrived in France on D-Day, 6th June.
It is known that Alfred, then still a Private, was wounded on 8 July 1944 but remained at duty. This was when the Battalion was involved in Operation Charnwood. This was part of the Battle for Caen which was an important objective for the Allies during the opening stages of Operation Overlord. By evening on 8 July the allies had cleared the villages in their path and reached the outskirts of Caen. However, the operation was costly for both the Allies and the enemy and Caen was only fully captured a week later. This latter offensive included Operation Goodwood in which the Battalion also took part. Oddly, it seems that it was also on 8 July that Alfred was promoted first to Lance Corporal and then to Paid Acting Corporal on the same day. Perhaps his actions on that day had shown him capable of taking on this role at a time when replacements were needed due to the number of casualties incurred.
He will then have moved through Belgium and the Netherlands in August and September.
Following the failure to take the bridge at Arnhem in Operation Market Garden in late September, the Allied Forces were left in a very precarious narrow salient through the Netherlands. It was the aim of Operation Aintree to widen this salient by heading south from Nijmegen to take Overloon and then Venray before finally eliminating a German bridgehead on the River Maas near Venlo.
On 6 October 1944 his rank of Acting Paid Corporal was converted to War Substantive Corporal. On 9 October 1944 the Battalion found itself in Haps, just south of Nijmegen and North of Overloon. They were ordered to move south to St Anthonis on 11 October, but this was postponed to the following day due to bad weather. The move was completed on 12 October and they then moved slightly further west the next day, though with one man killed and 3 wounded.
On the 14 October, the day on which Alfred died, the plan was for B Company to be guided through a wood held by the Royal Ulster Rifles to its front edge from where they would carry out a recce to check if a stream was passable and if the north eastern corner of a wood to the south was held by the enemy. However, the guides were late and the move through the wood was slower than expected, so the recce did not take place. At 7.30am the Company began to advance south out of the wood. However, before the Company had advanced 100 yds the enemy opened fire from a track about another 100 yds ahead. The advance continued but came under such heavy fire with so many casualties that the Company Commander issued an order to retreat back to the Royal Ulster Rifles’ position. By this point one Lieutenant and 34 other ranks had been killed or wounded. Following a recce by the Company Commanders, it was decided to launch an attack at 1530 hours with D and A companies in the lead. The enemy had been seen moving in the area of the stream in front of the wood. It was thought that the enemy holding the Battalion objective were probably a Company strong. Immediately the attacking force came into the open they were subjected to intense artillery and mortar fire but they pressed steadily on to reach their objective. During this action the Battalion suffered very heavy casualties including four officers killed and another four wounded.
A total of 27 men of the 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment who died that day are buried alongside each other at Overloon, including Corporal Alfred Vears.
He had served for a total of 2 years and 84 days of which 41 days were in the reserves and 132 days were in North West Europe. He was awarded medals as follows: 1939/45 Star, France & Germany Star, War Medal 1939/45.
His personal effects were returned to his mother, Mrs Clara Vears, of 53 Yockelton Road, Lea Hall, Birmingham on 21 February 1945. They consisted of his identity disc, a wallet containing photos, letters and souvenir coins.
Family history
Alfred John Vears was born in 1926 in Birmingham to Harry and Clara Isabel Vears, whose maiden name was Goodwin.
Harry Vears was born on 19 January 1899 and was the son of John Vears who married Louisa Chilton on 3 February 1896 in Balsall Heath, Birmingham. John worked as a Labourer. It is thought that John and Louisa had four children in total of whom Harry was the second oldest. However, there is some uncertainty as it seems that the family had moved to Newcastle under Lyme in Staffordshire by 1901 and were using John’s mother’s maiden name of Jackson instead of Vears. By 1911 it seems that the family had some problems as all but the eldest of the four children, including Harry, were inmates in the Newcastle Under Lyme workhouse. By 1921 Harry seems to have reverted to using the name Vears instead of Jackson. He was lodging in the household of Mrs C Busby at 3 back of 161, Barr Street, Birmingham. He had been working as a Groom for W Grimbsley but was out of work.
Clara Isabel Goodwin was born on 30 November, 1904 in the Aston district of Birmingham and was the daughter of William Goodwin and Rosannah Goodwin (nee Coffman). She was the eldest of their three children. Prior to her marriage, Rosannah was living with William’s parents in 1891 in Aston and was described as his father’s nephew’s daughter. In 1911 William and Rosannah were living with their three daughters at 3 House, 16 Court, Ashley St Birmingham. William was working as a Fish Porter. In 1921, prior to her marriage, Clara, aged 16, was working as a domestic servant in the household of Andrew and Mabel Jane Murray at 89, Douglas Road, Smethwick, Worcestershire.
Harry Vears married Clara Goodwin in Birmingham in 1923. They had children as follows, all in Birmingham: Irene I 1924, Alfred J in 1926, Harry in 1928, James A in 1930 and Jeanette V in 1938. However, young Harry died in 1931 aged just 2.
In 1928 to 1931 Harry and Clara were living at No 3 Court 25, 105 William Street in the Ladywood district of Birmingham. However, Harry, still living at the same address and described as a Hawker, found himself in trouble with the police in December 1929 and January 1933, though on the second occasion which involved a theft, Harry pleaded guilty, allowing his young accomplice to have a more lenient sentence.
By September 1939 Harry and Clara were living at 53 Yockleton Road, Birmingham. Harry’s occupation was described as “GP Groom”. He also seems to have become an ARP warden and first aider. With them were four un-named individuals who would be their four surviving children, including Alfred.
Sadly, Alfred, died in the Netherlands in 1944 aged just 18 rather than 20 as the Army believed.
Harry Vears died in 1962 in Birmingham.
Clara went on to marry Alfred G Owen that same year. She died in 1993 in Birmingham.
