06-18-2005, 06:39 AM
Marion,
I am at present reading "D-Day Dorset" which tells the story of the US troops stationed in the UK county of Dorset in 1944.
In this book are 3 pages telling of the explosion that happened involving the 294th Engineer Combat Battalion in the grounds of US Army Hospital 228th Camp Unit on the 30th March 1944 near the town of Sherborne. It is said that the death toll was between 40 and 140, although a plaque placed outside Sherborne Abbey in 1989 lists 29 names.
The explosion was said to have been caused by a truck carrying mines running over a land mine placed by German agents or a mine laying excercise that went wrong ? This event was kept quiet for many years.
Have you ever come across this story?
