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Name : Gabrielle Marie Henriette Testa Daughter of : unknown Born : unknown Married : Francis Testa |
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Address information
: According to the National Probate Calendar, Gabrielle Testa was resident at 13 Air-street, Piccadilly, London W.1. |
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| Casualty Details
: Died : 1 April 1943 aged 29 (*), at the Royal National Hospital, as a result of enemy action in an air raid at Ventnor. Buried in : London. CWGC Record (*) The CWGC record gives her age as 29, the GRO Death Indexes entries are : TESTA, Gaby, age 20, with a manuscript addition of TESTA, Gabrielle M H, aged 19. |
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| Commemorated on these
Memorials : Ventnor War Memorial |
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Documents and Newspaper cuttings :
ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY
Friday, April 2, 1943 Heavy Raid on South Coast Town A few hours before we went to press, a South Coast town which suffered a number of previous raids, was again visited by sneak raiders. Three fighter-bombers came in from the Channel, dropped bombs at a low altitude, and machine gunned the district a little to the west of the centre of the town. Extensive damage was done to residential and business properties. Public buildings damaged included a cinema. This, happily, was not showing at the time, and with one exception, the commissionaire, Mr. E.G. Stickley, who was severely injured and removed to hospital, the staff had not arrived for the evening performance. Five minutes later the whole of the staff would have reported for duty. A post office, a police station, a church, parish hall, and many shops in a main street, lost their windows or sustained other damage in varying degree. Several hotels were involved in damage - including one partially wrecked on a former occasion - and at one a fire was promptly dealt with. In a residential road on a lower level two private dwellings were demolished and a third partially so, and whilst these lines were being written, rescue party squads were digging for inmates known to have been trapped. TWO PERSONS KILLED : FIFTEEN INJURED. (Last night's figures). Late last night two fatal casualties were reported : - Mr. William Newbery, an octogenarian, and Mrs. D. Capocchi, a visitor from a distant town. Mrs D Capocchi was seriously injured, but survived. The IW Mercury printed a correction subsequently. ISLE OF WIGHT MERCURY Friday, April 9, 1943 Raid Victims' Funerals [...] The body of a fourth victim, Miss Gabriella Testa, was interred in London. 
National Probate Calendar 1943
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| Further information
: From "Isle of Wight at War", by Adrian Searle ... but April was less than a day old when Ventnor was hammered once again by the 'tip and run' raiders. Four Fw 190s attacked the Island's most southerly town at 4.45 pm on All Fools Day. Their bombs badly damaged the Rex Cinema and several hotels, notably the Royal Marine and Trafalgar. Several houses were demolished. A lengthy rescue operation succeeding in extricating some people from the debris of wrecked buildings, but four people (two men and two women) lost their lives in the attack, and another ten were badly hurt. (p 75). |
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| Acknowledgments : Janet Griffin for Newspaper research |
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| Page status : Page last updated : July 2012 |
 Memorials & Monuments
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