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| Captain Kenneth Charles TOWNSEND (EC/6520) | |
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4th Battalion, 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles Date of birth: 28th November 1920 Date of death: 3rd May 1944 Killed in action aged 23 Buried at Imphal War Cemetery Plot 3 Row E Grave 9 |
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| Kenneth Charles Townsend was born in Oxfordshire on the 28th of November 1920 the son of Henry Joseph Townsend, a grocer, and Catherine Hilda (nee Clewer) Townsend later of 90 Bloomfield Road, Plumstead, London SE18. He was educated at Lancing College where he was in Heads House from September 1934 to 1935. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Gurkha Rifles on the 29th of March 1941 and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 1st of October 1942. He was promoted to temporary Captain on the 20th of October 1943. At the beginning of May 1944 the 4th Battalion, 10th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles was near the village of Palel in Burma. There were large numbers of Japanese troops in the area and their time was spent patrolling, with occasional fire fights developing when they ran into enemy patrols. On the 3rd of May 1944 Kenneth Townsend was ordered to take command of a Company of the Kali Bahadur Regiment who were in a nearby defensive position called the "Bull Box". That night he was shot and killed by a sentry from the regiment when he failed to reply after being challenged with the password. |
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| Heads House |
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