Name
George William Day
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
27/04/1942
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
2340830
Royal Corps of Signals
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HITCHIN CEMETERY
N.W. Extn. Grave 407.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Tilehouse St. Baptist Church Memorial, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin, Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School Memorial (WW2)
Biography
He was born and resided in Hertfordshire and attended the Hitchin Grammar School from 1928-1934. After obtaining the School Certificate he joined the Post Office in Hitchin and stayed with them until the outbreak. of war.
He then joined the Royal Corps of Signals with the Service Number 2340830. He was attached to the 47th Divisional Signals and it was while riding a Corps motorcycle in the south of England that he had the fatal crash. He had been riding behind an army lorry that he attempted to overtake and was killed by an on-coming lorry. That very day his promotion to Serjeant had come through.
His body was brought to Hitchin for burial and a service was held in the Tilehouse Street Baptist Church. He was to have been married the following month.
A Commonwealth War Graves Commission stone in Hitchin Cemetery (No. 407 North West Extension) reads "2340830 Corporal G.W. Day Royal Signals 27th April 1942 aged 25. Gone but not forgotten".
His home was at 12, Tilehouse Street, Hitchin and he was the youngest in the family of George Wilson and Edith Alice Day, his father being a basket-maker.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Hitchin Grammar School Chronicle, Paul Johnson - local historian, Herts & Beds Express dated 2nd May 1942
