Harold Ernest Soanes

A Private with 6th Bn., Harold died on 18th of January 1942 at the age of 23. 

Harold was born at Lowestoft in 1918 a son of Frederick William and Anna Maria Soanes. His family lived at 66 Albany Cottages, Kirkley. In 1939 his family lived at 88 Kirkley Run. 

Harold married Rhoda Batty, of Kirkley, in 1940.

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. 

Harold was reported missing at Yong Peng on 18 January 1942 and official casualty list 2035, of 18 June 1945, recorded that he was presumed to have been killed in action on that date.