TURNER, Leslie James
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Known as:
Topsy
Rank:
Marine
Unit / Base:
'3 Commando Brigade, Royal Marines'
Regiment/Corps:
Royal Marines
Service:
Royal Navy
Number:
CH/X 5369
Born:
Wednesday, August 27, 1930
Died :
Thursday, December 28, 1950
Killed in action or died of wounds
Age:
20
Cemetery/Memorial:
Local Roll of Honour:
Marine Leslie Turner, HQ 3 Commando Bde. RM, was killed when the truck he was in surprised bandits in the act of robbing a bus in the Gopeng-Kampar hills, Malaya. Buried in Batu Gajah (later exhumed, cremated at Sek Keng Cheng Crematorium, Kuala Lumpur and ashes returned to UK). Also killed in the same incident was Marine Dennis Parr.
A veteran's slightly different account of the action "We had one bad ambush, I remember, when we had two Marines killed just after Christmas 1950. One was a mate of mine, Topsy Turner, from Birmingham. He was near Tapah, travelling toward Ipoh, when their vehicle was overtaken by a police vehicle full of CT's disguised as Police. They flagged our truck down and then opened up on it as it stopped." [*] [See Notes] Sources AFM ROH. Malayan Emergency Commonwealth Deaths 1948-1960. [*] Account of Mne. Sherratt, HQ troop, in the book By Sea and Land, author Robin Neillands. Notes The account shown at [*] also differs to that posted in the Nottingham Evening Post published on the 30th December 1950. Here is an extract from that article "The two Royal Marines who were killed by terrorists near Ipoh on Thursday were Marine D. Parr, of Coventry Road, Bulweli, Nottingham, and Marine L. J. Turner, of Walton Road, Warley, Aldbury. near Birmingham, Army H.Q. at Kuala Lumpur disclosed to-day. A third British soldier was seriously wounded in the action, when a military vehicle came upon a guerilla gang who had stopped a bus and were robbing passengers. The troops attacked, despite a hail of fire from automatic weapons and the terrorists fled."Primary Roll of Honour:
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