Lieutenant Keith Newey WOOD (289506)
C Troop, 53 Battery, 7th Survey Regiment, Royal Artillery

Date of birth: 3rd October 1916
Date of death: 30th July 1944

Died of wounds aged 27
Commemorated at Bayeux War Cemetery Special Memorial, Plot I Row C Grave 7
He was born at Canterbury on the 3rd of October 1916, the son of Ernest George Wood, Registrar of Marriages, and Violet Newey (nee Blades) of 3 The Hermitage, Harbledown near Canterbury.

He was educated at Simon Langton Grammar School and at the King's School Canterbury from September 1929 to December 1933, where he was a dayboy.

He was Surrey Junior Cross Country champion in 1937. He was a chartered surveyor, working for Fielding and Pembrook of Canterbury, and his call-up was delayed in 1940 to enable him to take his CSI examinations.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on the 21st of August 1943 and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 21st of February 1944.

The 53rd Battery, 7th Survey Regiment began disembarking at 3pm on the 25th of June 1944 at Juno Beach, Courcelles-sur-Mer in Normandy. Unloading was completed at 2pm the following day and they moved inland to Rocqueville. On the 28th of June they were in support of XXX Corps at Caumont. Keith Wood was seconded to the 4th Survey Regiment and rejoined his unit on the 1st of July when they were based at Nonant to the south east of Bayeux. He was part of C Troop which specialised in the use of sound ranging to detect enemy artillery batteries.

On the 29th of July 1944 he was at, or in front of the front line in an advanced post, close to Fontaine Etoupefour. He was plotting incoming enemy artillery fire when he was hit in the head by shell fragments and evacuated to hospital. The unit war diary records this as being caused by "possible D/F" meaning possible defensive, or "friendly" fire.

The diary also records at 4 o'clock on the morning of the 30th of July 1944 that he had died of his wounds at 74 General Hospital.

He was married to Patricia Mary Biggs of Canterbury in 1942. Their daughter Jennifer was born posthumously.

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Harbledown.
Day Boy

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