5th West Kents Italy 1943

Discussion in 'British Army Units - Others' started by Harry Morrin, Jun 21, 2021.

  1. Harry Morrin

    Harry Morrin Member

    Hi,

    I’m doing some research for my nanna. Her cousin was was called Stanley Horton aged 19 from Manchester, moss side he was part of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment 5th Bn, he was buried at sangro river.

    I was just wondering if anyone has any more information they might be able to share

    This is his service number and other info if it helps


    PRIVATE STANLEY HORTON
    Service Number: 14322943
    Regiment & Unit/Ship
    Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment

    5th Bn.


    Date of Death
    Died 28 December 1943

    Age 19 years old

    Buried or commemorated at
    SANGRO RIVER WAR CEMETERY

    XVII. E. 42.

    Italy
     
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  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Moved post to own thread with correct unit title & removed posts from view that were about the wrong unit.
     
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  3. Harry Morrin

    Harry Morrin Member

    Morning Owen,

    thnaks for putting me in the right place, is there any chance you have access to the 5 RWK diaries for the 28th December 1943

    thanks, harry
     
  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

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  5. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

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  6. Harry Morrin

    Harry Morrin Member

    Thanks a lot this is all interesting and information that we never knew!
     
  7. gmyles

    gmyles Senior Member

    Hi

    Army casualties 1939-1945 on FMP only confirms he was in 5 Battalion and was killed in action.

    Hope this helps

    Gus
     
  8. Harry Morrin

    Harry Morrin Member

    Thanks Gus

    We believe it was his first day in battle
     
  9. Gary Tankard

    Gary Tankard Well-Known Member

    Harry, if no-one else posts it I'll be going to Kew soon. I'll copy the 5 RWK War Diary for December 1943 and post/send it to you. This might be a couple of weeks though.
     
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  10. Harry Morrin

    Harry Morrin Member

    That would be much appreciated Gary, do you need my email address/address
     
  11. hutt

    hutt Member

    Here is a reference to this action in the intelligence report of 1 AGRA in WO169/94058 for 28th December. Sadly, the second paragraph may well refer to Stanley Horton

    5RWK.JPG
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2021
  12. Harry Morrin

    Harry Morrin Member

    Thanks a lot, this is all amazing we’ve found so much out in the space of a day. 80 years down the line we have a rough idea of what happened to him
     
  13. hutt

    hutt Member

    I am very please that this and the other contributors have given you this insight. It is actually very moving that after so long, these small almost inconsequential, brief records can still be linked to named individuals. Hopefully Gary will be able to get you a copy of the actual unit diary which could well confirm this plus provide other detail of the fateful action that day.
     
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  14. hutt

    hutt Member

    I've also done a bit more digging and it turns out that 70th Medium Regiment were supporting this action on that day. My fathers unit probably delivered the shells that were being fired indeed there is a very odd entry that from my reading suggest that on that day the regiment had invited members of their RASC support to visit the gun lines and have a go at firing them. I'd be interested if anybody else agrees with my interpretation of the entry I've lined in red below. If it was the case, how often did that happen?

    DSC08585.JPG 1503CoyRASC281243.JPG
     
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  15. MarkN

    MarkN Banned

  16. Harry Morrin

    Harry Morrin Member

    72E31851-A7F2-4277-B013-9A50120134F6.jpeg 44A269E9-C2DB-4DE1-AFA2-F3507CD76B08.jpeg
    Here is a picture of Stanley Horton and also what I think might have been the pin from his beret.
     
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  17. Harry Morrin

    Harry Morrin Member

    I’ll have a read thanks a lot !
     
  18. MarkN

    MarkN Banned

    You will see from the narrative I posted above (from the regimental history) that a substantial number of casualties that day - perhaps the majority - were inflicted by their own artillery.

    There is a good chance therefore, that a report on the incident was written up to explain how it came to pass which may well survive today. That is likely to be buried in one of the formation HQ files or an artillery HQ file.
     
  19. hutt

    hutt Member

    I've checked the 1 AGRA diary again and it doesn't mention the inaccurate shelling although I am pretty sure I have seen references to similar events elsewhere so they weren't necessarily swept under the carpet. The timings between the 70th Medium Regt diary and RWK account differ so perhaps the offending barrage came from a different artillery regiment.
     
  20. MarkN

    MarkN Banned

    I think this presents a very interesting line of enquiry for Harry Morrin as he builds his knowledge and understanding of the events that day.

    However, I have neither personal nor general interest in the matter as my research efforts lie elsewhere so will not be digging any deeper on this topic myself.
     

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