Category Archives: WW2

Stoker Alfred George Smith

He was born 9th January 1910, and was baptised on 6th March at the Mitcham parish church. In the 1911 census he is shown as living with his parents William John and Martha Ann Smith, both aged 44, at 8 Belgrave Road.

He married 6th June 1931 to Alice Louisa Ferridge at the parish church in Church Road. He was 21, a bricklayer. She was also 21 years old. They both lived at 6 Seaton Road.

Marriage Banns

The 1939 Register shows them living at 20 Dalton Avenue.

He served as a stoker on the H.M.S. Tetcott from December 1941. This was a Type 2 frigate escort ship in Mediterranean. It was anchored outside Malta when Malta was badly bombed.

Sources:
Birth : Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers
Marriage Banns : Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Reference Number: 3477/4
1939 Register : The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/1373F

Corporal Douglas John Oakley MM

Born 4th October 1909, in Kilburn, London.

He married Mabel S. Bolton in the last quarter of 1934.

In the 1939 Register he was listed as a piano salesman, with his wife Mabel who was a music saleswoman, and they lived in Dunheved Close, Thornton Heath.

He served with the Corps of Royal Engineers as Corporal, service number 2136656.

He was awarded the Military Medal for his part in the D-Day Normandy Landings in 1944.

He is mentioned in the Croydon and the Second World War memorial book.

He died 29th January 1985, aged 75, in East Preston, West Sussex.

Sources:
London Gazette, Publication date: 29 August 1944, Supplement: 36679, Page: 4048
General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 3a; Page: 979
The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/1302A