James William Durrant

A Private with the 4th Battalion, James died on 3rd of October 1943 aged 22. 

James was born at Dovercourt, Essex, on 7 February 1921, a son of James Robert and Winifred Anne Durrant. He was baptised at All Saints’ Church, Dovercourt, on 6 March 1921, and his family lived at 7 Lea Road, Dovercourt. By 1939 his family were living at 10 Laurel Road, Lowestoft.  

James was working as a salesman when he joined the Suffolk Regiment and served with 3 Company in the 4th Battalion.

In autumn 1939 the 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, part of 54 Brigade in the 18th (East Anglian) Division, 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, Nova 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.

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.      

James was taken prisoner at Singapore. On 13 May 1943 he was part of a group of men taken overland to work on the Burma Railway. In October 1943 he was at No. 13 Camp, Kanburi. James developed peritonitis and died at the Tamarkand Hospital. He was buried at Kanburi No. 1 Cemetery and reburied at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery in 1946.