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On this day in 1941 Samuel Albert Greenham (1906-1941) was among more than 800 officers and men who died when two British warships were attacked and destroyed by 86 Japanese aircraft off Malaysia in the Second World War. The devastating losses came just three days after Japanese forces attacked … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…December 10, 1941: Samuel dies as HMS Repulse is destroyed

On this day in 1940, Percy Charles George Dudd (1918-1940) died in a British submarine in the Second World War. An able seaman in HMS Regulus, he was 22 when the vessel was lost off Italy in 1940. The Regulus, commanded by Lt-Cdr Frederick Basil Currie, was reported missing after leaving … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…December 6, 1940: Percy dies in submarine off Italy

On this day in 1917, Thomas ‘Tom’ Johns (1893-1917) was killed in a fierce fight in Palestine in the Great War. Tom was one of five family members involved in the battle at the hilltop village of Beit ur al-Foka, near Jerusalem. Charlie Hitchcock, Alvin Victor Jones and Frank Roberts, who was … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…December 3, 1917: Tom is killed in Palestine

On this day in 1917, Frederick George Charley (1895-1917) was killed in a battle in a hilltop village near Jerusalem. Frederick, 22, a sergeant in the 16th Devons, was among more than 80 officers and other ranks who lost their lives in fierce fighting at Beit ur al-Foka. Frank Roberts – one of … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…December 3, 1917: Frederick is killed in battle near Jerusalem

On this day in 1917, Frank Berry (1892-1917) was killed in the Battle of Cambrai in France. Frank was 25 and a private in the 17th Battalion of the Welsh Regiment when he lost his life in fierce fighting in a heavily bomb-damaged Bourlon Wood in a tank-led offensive. His death was announced in … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…November 25, 1917: Frank is killed in Battle of Cambrai

On this day in 1917, John Owen (1882-1917) died from wounds sustained in an attack on enemy soldiers in France. John, a sergeant, lost his life after his battalion – the 17th Welsh Regiment – helped in an attack on Bourlon Wood, near Cambrai in the winter of 1917. Commonwealth War Graves … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…November 24, 1917: John dies after attack on Bourlon Wood

On this day in 1917, Arthur Charles James Boden (1895-1917) was killed in action while serving in the 24th (Wessex) Field Ambulance of the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Great War. Arthur, who was 21, died 16 years after his father – Arthur Finley – was killed in the Second Boer War in South … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…November 19, 1917: Arthur killed on Western Front

On this day in 1918, James Richards (1872-1918) died from pneumonia, two days after the end of the Great War. James was 42 and a carpenter and wheelwright when he enlisted in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in September 1915. A private, he worked as a ‘wheeler’, or wheelwright, in the RAOC – … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…November 13, 1918: James dies from pneumonia two days after Armistice

On this day in 1944, William Henry Marshall (1899-1944) died in the Second World War while serving as a captain in the Royal Indian Engineers. He was 44. He was buried in Rawalpindi War Cemetery in Pakistan. His war grave includes the inscription: ‘But here within this soul of mine I know that … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…November 13, 1944: William dies in Second World War

On this day in 1917, John Charles Earl (1886-1917) was killed in the Battle of Passchendaele in the Great War. John Charles – who was known as Charles – was a private in the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. He was 31 when he lost his life. He initially enlisted in the … [Read more...] about ON THIS DAY…November 6, 1917: Charles killed in Battle of Passchendaele