THOMAS, Norman
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Rank:
Private
Unit / Base:
52ME Commando
'Layforce'
Regiment/Corps:
The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) 2nd Bn.
Service:
Army
Service Number:
6088017
P.O.W. number:
95329
P.O.W. camps:
Born:
Thursday, June 5, 1919
Died :
Friday, June 19, 1942
Died whilst a prisoner of war
Place died or last resided:
German Military Hospital in Bilina
Age:
23
Cemetery/Memorial:
Private Thomas, 'D' Battalion of Layforce, was reported missing in action in Crete 2 June 1941, later confirmed died whilst a prisoner of war in a German Reserve Hospital (Lazarette) at Bilina in occupied Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia. Cause of death heart failure and circulation and cachexia malignant growth. Foster son of Mrs Emma Davis of Willenhall, Staffordshire [1].
Norman Thomas enlisted into the Queen's Royal Regiment on the 9th February 1938 aged 18, former employment being a Lockmaker in Willenhall. He was posted on 31 October 1940 from the 2nd Bn., Queen's Royal Regiment in Egypt to 52 Middle East Commando. Active service included Sudan from December 1940.
On 28 March 1941 at Geneifa, Egypt, Nos.52 and 50 Middle East Commandos were merged as 'D' Battalion of Layforce and embarked for Crete 24 May 1941 [1][3][4].
Sources
[1] Service Record / National Archives file WO423/105320.
[2] CWGC
[3] Casualty Lists 1939-45 / National Archive files WO417/27, 31, 46, and 50.
[4] Westminster Abbey Commando Roll of Honour file ref. National Archives DEFE/2/843.
Notes
a. The CWGC and Casualty Records list him by his Regiment only.
b. Prague War Cemetery was constructed by the Czechoslovak Government, to plans provided by the Imperial War Graves Commission, under the terms of the War Graves Agreement of 3 March 1949. It contains 256 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 34 of which are unidentified. The graves were brought into the cemetery from 73 small cemeteries scattered all over the Czech Republic. Many of those buried here died as Prisoners of War [CWGC].
a. The CWGC and Casualty Records list him by his Regiment only.
b. Prague War Cemetery was constructed by the Czechoslovak Government, to plans provided by the Imperial War Graves Commission, under the terms of the War Graves Agreement of 3 March 1949. It contains 256 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 34 of which are unidentified. The graves were brought into the cemetery from 73 small cemeteries scattered all over the Czech Republic. Many of those buried here died as Prisoners of War [CWGC].
Primary Roll of Honour:
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