Name
Frederick Taylor
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
16/09/1944
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
5509571
Hampshire Regiment
1/4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
GRADARA WAR CEMETERY
II, E, 26.
Italy
Headstone Inscription
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He was born in Hampshire and was resident in the county when he was called up in July 1940, given Service Number 5509571 and posted to the l/4th Battalion of the Regiment He was wounded in North Africa and spent a year in hospital. He then went into action in Italy and was killed.
His death occurred during violent attacks by the British 8th Army on the Gothic Line in the vicinity of Rimini. The hand to hand fighting was described as some of the most merciless of the Italian campaign.
This was during the Second Battle of Goriano about ten miles south of Rimini on the east coast of Italy. The battle had commenced on the 15th September 1944. The l/4th Hants were a first-line Territorial Army unit being part of the 128th Infantry Brigade of the 46th Infantry Division. They had arrived from Egypt on the 3rd July 1944. They crossed the Marano River and gained footholds on the high ground north of the stream and gradually eroded the German positions.
He was buried in Plot 2, Row E, Grave 26 in the Gradara War Cemetery which is in the Province of Pesaro near the Adriatic coast southeast of Rimini in Italy. A private inscription on the headstone reads "Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends".
He had married Miss Ethel Lucy Winters and his home was at 8, Periwinkle Lane, Hitchin. His parents were James and Elizabeth Sarah Taylor of Guildford.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, ‘The Second Great War’ by J. Hammerton, Herts & Beds Express dated 7th Oct 1944
