George Harold Albert Gooch

A Sergeant with the Army Catering Corps, attached to the 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, George died on 14th of August 1943 at the age of 24. 

George was born at Gisleham on 1 May 1919, a son of Albert Alfred and Ethel Agnes Gooch. he was baptised at Saint John's Church, Lowestoft, on 23 May 1919 and his family lived at Church Farm Cottages, Gisleham. 

George's father died in 1930 and his mother remarried and in 1939 she lived at 153 The Avenue, Lowestoft.

George married Hilda Maud Rivett in 1940, this registered in the Bury St. Edmunds district. 

George enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment. He was a cook and was transferred to the Army Catering Corps and attached to the 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment. 

In autumn 1939 the 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment was on guard duty in the Lowestoft area and from July to September 1940 had various local deployments, including guarding Great Yarmouth. The Battalion then moved to Bedfordshire and then Scotland until April 1941. Next the Battalion moved to Bury, Lancashire, and Hereford, before embarking on the S.S. Andes at Liverpool and sailing for Halifax, Nov Scotia. The Battalion changed ship, to the American liner Wakefield, and sailed for Trinidad and then Cape Town, arriving on 9 December 1941. The Battalion was given three days shore leave.

The Battalion was part of 54 Brigade in the 18th (East Anglian) Division. 

With the Japanese entry into the war the Battalion was now allocated to the Far East and sailed for India, arriving on 5 January 1942. The Battalion had three weeks of training before embarking at Bombay and sailing for Singapore, arriving on 29 January 1942. The Battalion had orders to defend the Golf Course and then fell back to defend the perimeter before the Singapore garrison was forced to surrender on 15 February 1942. 

Ninety men of the Battalion were killed, or died of wounds, in the defence of Singapore and 865 were taken prisoner.      

George was captured at Singapore on 15 February 1942. He was made to work on construction of the 'Burma Railway'. He died of malaria at Tamaran Pat, Thailand.