Kenneth William Read

A Lance Corporal with the 5th Battalion, Kenneth died on 17th of August 1943 aged 23. 

Kenneth was born at Leiston on 19 December 1919, a son of Leonard and Dorothy Grace Read. In 1921 his family lived at 11 Station Road, Carlton, Nottingham. By 1939 they were living at 17 Minden Road, Lowestoft, and Kenneth was a grocery provision salesman. 

Kenneth 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 Kenneth, like many of his battalion was captured when Singapore fell on 15 February 1942. 

Kenneth was among a party of men taken overland, on 19 March 1943, to Thailand to work on the Burma Railway. By August 1943 he was at Takanoon where he died from indigestion. He was buried at Takanoon and then reburied at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery in 1946.