Service number: 6341108 | Rank: Lance Corporal | Regiment: Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment
Died, April 29, 1943.
Buried MASSICAULT WAR CEMETERY, Tunisia. II. L. 2.
Aged 32. Husband of Ann Smith, of Brandon, Suffolk. Son of George and Charlotte Smith.
WHAT I KNOW ABOUT HAROLD …
George was born in the spring of 1912. His father, George Smith originally came from Cambridgeshire, but lived in Brandon after marrying a Brandon girl, Charlotte Kent. Two of Charlotte’s brothers, Edward and Arthur, are remembered on Brandon’s war memorial as they were killed in WW1. George appears to have been the youngest of four brothers – Cyril (b. 1906), Leonard (b. 1908) and Donald (b. 1909).
Not much else is currently known about Harold, other than he at some point he got married and his wife’s name was Ann. His wartime experiences would have been similar to Charles Arbon, who also served with the Royal West Kent Regiment and died in Tunisia in April 1943. Harold was buried near where he was killed, but a couple of months later, 21st June 1943, his body was exhumed and re-buried at the creation of a war cemetery at Massicault, Tunisia. Perhaps an indication of how he died is given in his headstone, which reads,
“Greater love,
Hath no man than this,
That a man lay down,
His life for his friends”