Raymond George Charles Ditcham

A Private with the 5th Battalion, Raymond died on 11th of November 1942 aged 24. 

Raymond was born at Great Yarmouth on 29 November 1917, a son of Charles William and Edith Alice Ditcham. In 1921 his family lived at 196 Stafford Road, Great Yarmouth. By 1939 Raymond’s family were living at 40 Norfolk Street, Lowestoft. Before joining the Army Raymond was a cotton clothing cutter.  

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

Raymond was held in the Changi district of Singapore, where he died from bacterial dysentery. He was buried at Changi Cemetery and in 1946 he was re-buried at Kranji War Cemetery.