Name
Cecil Hugh Perrin
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
20/12/1941
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sapper
1906911
Royal Engineers
143 Field Park Sqn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ALAMEIN MEMORIAL
Column 50.
Egypt
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St. John's War Memorial, St. Mary's Church, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He was born in Hertfordshire, had attended Wilshere Dacre School and on leaving worked for Creasey Bodybuilders Garage of Knebworth. He was a member of the St. John's Church choir in Hitchin and also a member of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade. He was a resident of Hertfordshire when he enlisted in 1940 and by May of that year was serving in Norway with the Service Number 1906911. He was wounded during the retreat from Norway and spent 17 weeks in a Scottish hospital. Later he went to Greece and was evacuated during the retreat from Greece to Crete and from Crete to Libya.
He was twice Mentioned in Despatches for gallantry in action and had a fine record of service in Norway, Greece and Crete. At the time of his death he was serving in the 143rd Field Park Squadron. This unit was part of the Divisional troops of the 7th Armoured Division of XIII Corps.
He was killed in Libya. This was at the time of the great advance made by the British army in Libya against Rommel. Derna had fallen into British hands the day prior to his death.
His grave was clearly marked in the desert and a photograph of it still exists, but by the end of the war the marker had been lost, and he has no known grave. He is remembered on Panel 50 of the Alamein Memorial to the Missing.
He was the son of Sidney and Alice Maud Perrin of Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Paul Johnson - local historian, ‘The Second Great War’ by J.A. Hammerton, ‘Orders of Battle 1939-45’ by H.F. Joslen, Herts Pictorial dated 20th January 1942
