Ivor John Durrant

A Private with the 5th Battalion, Ivor died on 29th of September 1945 aged 29.

John was born at Gisleham on 3 August 1916, a son of Frederick William and Rosa Jane Durrant. In 1921 his family lived at Black Street, Gisleham. Later his family lived at 3 Mill Villa, Gisleham.

Ivor worked as a general labourer before enlisting in the Royal Norfolk Regiment. 

Ivor served with the 5th Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment. In May 1940 the battalion took over coastal defences at Weybourne, Norfolk. Later that year they moved to Holt and then King’s Lynn. In January 1941 they were sent to Scotland for advanced training and in April to Liverpool. In October 1941 they went to Glasgow and on 9 December they embarked the Duchess of Atholl, part of a convoy of ships carrying the 18th Division to Halifax. In Canada they changed ship to the U.S.S. Mount Vernon and then sailed for South Africa. They were due to sail to Bombay on 13 December 1941, but instead were taken to Mombasa. On 28 December they sailed for Singapore, arriving there on 13 January 1942.

The battalion underwent some jungle training before moving to reserve positions at Ayer Hitam. The battalion’s first contact with the Japanese took place on 21 January. For the next few days they tried to hold positions, but, on 26 January, they were ordered to engage in a fighting retreat to Singapore. For the next two weeks they were involved in the defence of Singapore but Ivor, like many of his battalion was captured when Singapore fell on 15 February 1942.

Ivor was held in the Changi district of Singapore. It seems that he was still in Singapore in November 1944. It appears that after Singapore was liberated, on 12 September 1945, that Ivor was taken to India, probably for medical treatment and rehabilitation before returning to England. Ivor died at Bangalore on 29 September, and he was buried there before being reburied at the Madras War Cemetery.