Cyril Muskett

A Private with the 4th Battalion, Cyril died on 21st of September 1943 aged 25. 

Cyril was born at Lowestoft on 2 December 1917, a son Florence Jane Muskett. In 1919 Cyril’s mother married Archibald Cecil Brown. In 1921 his family lived at 3 Princes Road. By 1939 his family were living at 24 Fir Lane and Cyril was an omnibus chair maker. When he enlisted, he stated that he was a carpenter. Cyril married Vera Grace Lee in 1940, this was registered in the Lothingland district. Vera lived at 22 Fir Lane. Vera remarried in 1947. 

Cyril served with the 4th Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment. In autumn 1940 the Battalion was on coastal defence in the Great Yarmouth area and then moved to Brooke, and then Cambridge. In early 1941 the Battalion was sent to Scotland, then Blackburn, and Ross-on-Wye. On 29 October 1941 the Battalion sailed from Liverpool and landed at Bombay on 29 December 1941 as part of the 18th (East Anglian) Division. On 19 January 1942 the Battalion re-embarked for Singapore and landed there on 29 January 1942. On 11 February the Battalion went into action at the racecourse, before falling back to defend the perimeter. On 15 February the British forces in Singapore were forced to surrender and the remaining men of the 4th Battalion went into captivity.

Cyril was taken prisoner at Singapore and, on 31 October 1942, he was among a party of men taken overland to Thailand to work on the Burma Railway. By September 1943 he was at Chungkai where he died from polyavitaminiosis (vitamin deficiency) and indigestion.