Name
David Hubert Harvey-Williams (MC)(*1)
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
19/04/1945
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
315919
Royal Horse Guards
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Military Cross
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HAMBURG CEMETERY
8A. E. 8.
Germany
Headstone Inscription
THANK YOU, DARLING, FOR THOSE NINETEEN BLISSFULLY HAPPY YEARS. GOD BLESS YOU
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
Born in Hertfordshire, he was educated at Bruton in Somerset and resided in Surrey. His Service Number was 315919 and he served in the Royal Horse Guards. The award of the Military Cross was for rescuing a Troop which had become surrounded by the enemy.
He was killed in Germany while patrolling in an armoured car when German Marines ambushed the contingent A direct hit was sustained by the vehicle from a mortar shell killing David and one of his men. The remainder were taken prisoner.
He was buried in Friedkofan Mulbenireg but later in grave consolidations his body was moved to Plot SA, Row E, Grave 8 in the Hamburg War Cemetery in Germany. A private inscription on the stone reads "Thank you darling for those nineteen blissfully happy years. God bless you".
He was the son of Mrs Doris Harvey-Williams and Dr Robert Harvey-Williams a well-known doctor of Hitchin.
Additional Information
*1 We believe this man to be recorded as W D Harvey on the memorials.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, ‘Roll of Honour Land Forces W.W.2.’ by J. Devereux & G. Sacker, Paul Johnson - local historian, Herts Pictorial dated 22nd May 1945
