Name
Ronald James Butts
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
01/11/1944
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Marine
PO/X 115686
Royal Marines
H.M. L.C.F. 37.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BERGEN-OP-ZOOM WAR CEMETERY
13. A. 6.
Netherlands
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St. Mark’s Church Memorial, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
He attended St. Mary's School, Hitchin and later worked for Messrs Chater-Lea in Letchworth. From 1940 to 1942 he was in the Home Guard and was called up on the 10th September 1942 and given Service No. PO/X 115686. He served in the invasion of Sicily and later in Italy.
On the 1st November 1944, a Commando force of Royal Marines from Ostend landed at Westkapelle on Walcheren Island in Holland. Weather conditions were so bad that air support was not possible. The opposition had not been neutralised to the extent expected and the landing craft had a tough task with two thirds of them being sunk or damaged. The Royal Marine losses were heavy with 37 killed, 77 missing and 201 wounded.
Ron was one of those killed on H.M. Landing Craft Ship 37 and he is buried in Bergen-op-Zoom War Cemetery in Holland in Plot 13, Row A, Grave 6.
He was the son of Mr and Mrs I. Butts of 35, York Rd, Hitchin.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, ‘The Second Great War’ by J. Hammerton,
Herts Pictorial dated 23rd Jan 1945
