Name
Alfred Peter Taylor
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
01/07/1944
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
14669785
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
5th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
RANVILLE WAR CEMETERY
VIII. E. 9.
France
Headstone Inscription
A LIFE CUT SHORT. HE DIED AS HE LIVED, EVERYONE'S FRIEND. MUM, DAD, BROTHERS & SISTERS
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St. Mark’s Church Memorial, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He was born in Hertfordshire and before call-up in November 1943, he had attended Wilshere Dacre School and later worked for W. Alderman & Sons of the Grove Road Dairy, Hitchin.
He was residing in Hertfordshire when he joined the army in November 1943 and was given Service Number 14669785. He went to Normandy and the way he let his parents know was by sending them a five franc note. He was killed outright when a shell from a German ‘Nebelwerfer’ exploded about midday during a time when his unit's position was being attacked. He was initially buried near the place where his death occurred, but an officer wrote that it was intended to move his body to a war cemetery at a later stage.
He is buried in Plot 8, Row E, Grave 9, in the Ranville War Cemetery, Normandy in France. A private inscription on the headstone reads "A life cut short, he died as he lived, everyone's friend. Mum, Dad, brothers and sisters".
He was the son of Mr and Mrs W. Taylor of 53, Mattocke Rd, Hitchin. He had lost four uncles in the Great War.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Paul Johnson - local historian, Herts Pictorial dated 25th July 1944, Herts & Beds Express dated 22nd July 1944
