George Edward Simpson-Smith

A Private with the 6th Battalion, George died on 19th of January 1942 aged 23. 

George was born at Hull in 1918, a son of George Alexander Simpson and Elsie Mary Smith. In 1921 his family lived at 16 Suffolk Road, Lowestoft. By 1939 they were living at 139 Saint Peters Street.

George served with the 6th Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment. 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. 

George was reported missing at Yong Peng on 19 January 1942, but the official casualty list 1973, of 30 January 1946, recorded that he was presumed to have been killed in action on 19 January 1942. 
George's father died during an air raid in 1941.