John Bertlot Reeder

A Private with 6th Bn. John died on 27th of January 1942 at the age of 29. 

John was born at Hopton on 12 June 1913, a son of Alfred and Rose Elizabeth Reeder. By 1939 his family were living at Blacksmith Loke, Hopton, and John worked as a postman.

In late 1939 the 6th Battalion was stationed at Sheringham and in spring 1940 guarded the coast from Sheringham to Overstrand. In August 1940 the Battalion moved to Holt and later in the year they moved to Weybourne, and then Swaffham.

The 6th Battalion was part of the 18th (East Anglian) Division and in January 1941 the Division moved to Scotland until April when they moved to Hartford and in August to Knowsley Park, Lancashire.

In October the Division received orders that they were to go overseas and the 6th Battalion embarked on the S.S. Duchess of Atholl, at Gourouk, and sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 27 October 1941. The Battalion, being part of the 53rd Brigade, was transferred to S.S. Mount Vernon and sailed for Trinidad and then Cape Town, arriving on 9 December 1941 and three days shore leave was granted.

On 13 December 1941 they sailed for Bombay but orders came redirecting them to Mombassa and then Singapore, where they disembarked on 13 January 1942. From 16 January they were involved in the battle to save Malaya. 

John was reported missing at the Fall of Singapore, but it was later concluded, in official casualty list 1988 of 16 February 1946, that he had been killed in action at Singapore on 27 January 1942.