Name
James Hunter Sergeant
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
21/11/1941
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
2756161
Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
KNIGHTSBRIDGE WAR CEMETERY, ACROMA
12. E. 20.
Libya
Headstone Inscription
AGE SHALL NOT WEARY HIM NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN. WE WILL REMEMBER HIM
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He was born in Glasgow and was resident there at the time he enlisted His Service Number was 2756161 and he was in the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment. His death occurred during Operation ‘Crusader’, the great advance and confused fighting against Rommel's Afrika Corps west of Sollum and southeast of Tobruk in the vast desert of that area. The 2nd Battalion was involved in an attempted breakout from Tobruk. The 4th Royal Tank Regiment were delayed and were behind their infantry when the infantry attacked an enemy strongpoint called ‘Jill’. They rushed the minefield surrounding it, broke through the wire and stormed the strongpoint at the point of the bayonet to the skirl of the bagpipes. The German survivors were white and shaken but had killed a number of Highlanders. The 2nd Battalion then rallied behind the 4th R.T.R. and attacked the main objective which was another German strongpoint called ‘Tiger’. The enemy held their fire until the Black Watch were past the wire and then opened up with machine-guns. The Black Watch charged with the bayonet and took the position. The Battalion had only 8 officers and 196 men by the evening. All this took place 20 miles southeast of Tobruk just outside the Tobruk perimeter.
He is buried in Plot 12, Row E, Grave 20 in the Knightsbridge War Cemetery at Acroma in Libya. A private inscription on the stone reads "Age shall not weary him nor the years condemn, we will remember him".
He was the son of David and Elizabeth Serjeant of Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Paul Johnson - local historian, ‘Second World War’ by J. Hammerton, ‘Crucible of War 2 - Auckinleck's Command’ by B. Pitt
