174732 Lieutenant David Hemersham COX, 2 Cheshire Regiment: 16/08/1943

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  1. dbf

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    Personal Number: 174732
    Rank: Lieutenant
    Name: David Hemersham COX
    Unit: 2 Cheshire Regiment


    London Gazette : 12 March 1941
    https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35103/supplement/1497/data.pdf
    The undermentioned Cadets, from 163rd, 164th, 165th, 166th, 167th, 168th & 170th O.C.T.U's, to be 2nd Lts., except as otherwise stated. 1st Mar. 1941: —
    Cheshire R.
    David Homersham Cox (174732).
     
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    Martin, Peter Lawrence de Carteret (Oral history)
    Reel 1, 22m 30s

    Where, one morning, David COX - who I mentioned before [9m10s] - came to see me. His voice - his face was as white as a sheet. Long before the ALAMEIN battle he had told me of a very vivid dream he’d had of being killed at at place called CATANIA and he was really shaken.
    And I said: “Well you’ve obviously been listening to the radio” - in which there were constant talks of the RAF bombing the enemy airfields at CATANIA in Sicily - “so you’ve got it in your mind.”
    He said: “No, I’m absolutely crystal clear that I am going to be killed at CATANIA” And he said: “On the model in the Ops room, CATANIA is one of our objectives.”
    He really was shaken. Now he was a splendid chap, David COX. He had been at Clifton College, he been Captain of the running eight, he’d got a scholarship at Oxford and had done one year at Oxford before being called up. And he was not the sort of person who panicked, he was an extremely brave officer but he was very, very shaken by this."


    Martin, Peter Lawrence de Carteret (Oral history)
    Reel 4, 3m 30s
    "And the night before we were due to actually pass through CATANIA itself, I met David COX who, if you remember, had had this dream, months and months before, that he was going to be killed in CATANIA.
    And there he was, with his Platoon, due to go through CATANIA the next day and he was in a state of very great apprehension. He was really white and shaking and I kept telling him: “Absolute nonsense” and so on but I could see that he was convinced that he was going to be killed.
    I met him the following night - we’d got through CATANIA - and he was in bubbling form. His great premonition had proved to be false and he’d survived. He remained in tremendous form for the rest of the campaign but there was a sad ending which I will come to."


    Reel 4, 11m 11s
    [Reading from letter sent home]
    "Two days ago David COX was killed while clearing some mines. It was a shattering blow to us all. A long time ago, before the Alamein battle started, he told me he’d had a dream that he’d be killed near a place called CATANIA. He mentioned it again when he knew that we were landing in SICILY. The day before his death, when all the fighting had ended, I pulled his leg about it. The same day he was ordered by our CO to take a party to clear mines away from an area near the seaside which Battalion Headquarters rather fancied for themselves and where they had been ordered by the Division to move. We found out afterwards that our CO was the only one in the Division to volunteer to clear his own area of mines. This is normally an Engineer job. After lifting over 200 anti-personnel mines in a morning, David was killed by a booby-trap hidden in a vine. Nobody would’ve minded so much if he had been killed fighting, for that is a thing you expect, but to die like he did was so unnecessary.

    Was it anywhere near CATANIA?
    Em, we buried him in Catania Military Cemetery the next day. It was just north of CATANIA, yes.


     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2022
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  5. harkness

    harkness Well-Known Member

    Cox_marr.jpg


    Cox_bapt.jpg



    1939 Register
    1 Northcote Road, Bristol, Gloucestershire

    Name - Birth date - Occupation - Marital status
    David H Cox - 23 Mar 1920 - Univ Student - Single
    John M Cox - 15 Jan 1923 - At School - Single
    Menna W Cox - 13 Nov 1890 - Unpaid Domestic Duties - Widowed
    Charlotte E Ponnions - 03 Dec 1887 - General Domes - Single


    Cox_prob.jpg
     
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