Harold Gooch

A Sapper with 560 Field Company, Harold died on 24th of November 1942 aged 24. 

Harold was born at Lowestoft on 19 November 1918, a son of Ewart William and Lily Maud Gooch. In 1921 his family lived at 93 Raglan Street, and this was still their home in 1939, when Harold was a fruit salesman.  

Harold enlisted in the Royal Engineers on 19 October 1939. By late 1941 he was serving with 560 Field Company in the 18th Division. Harold’s unit embarked in October 1941 bound for Egypt, but, en route, their destination was changed to India and from there they were sent to Singapore, with various elements arriving in late January and early February 1942. Harold was captured at the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942. He would, like most of the men of his company, have been held at Changi and sources show that he was in one of the groups of prisoners that were taken overland to work on the Burma Railway. 

There is no record of what happened to Harold other than that he died on 24 November 1942 and was buried at Wat Koke Mor, Nong Pladuk, the next day. Nong Pladuk was the start point for the Burma Railway and contained a large camp where British and Commonwealth prisoners of war were held. Harold was reburied at Chungkai Military Cemetery in 1946.