Name
Frederick James (Harry) Primett
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
10/09/1942
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Signalman
2337701
Royal Corps of Signals
70th Div. Sigs.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BARI WAR CEMETERY
VI. D. 39.
Italy
Headstone Inscription
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St. Saviour's Church Memorial, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin, Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School Memorial (WW2)
Biography
He was born in Hertfordshire and attended the Hitchin Grammar School from 1929-1934 and was remembered for his quiet, gentle disposition. He left to join the staff of the Post Office Engineering Department in Hitchin.
At the beginning of the war he was resident in Hertfordshire and enlisted as a Signalman in the Royal Corps of Signals and served in the Middle East until taken prisoner on the 21st November 1941. This was at the height of a very confused battle over hundreds of miles of desert between Rommel's forces and those of the British under Auchinleck. The attack was started by the British on the 18th November 1941 under the Codename ‘Crusader’, the objective being to relieve Tobruk. On the 21st November, the Germans counter-attacked and a complete British Armoured Brigade was destroyed near Sidi Rizegh Airfield. At the time of his capture he was with the 70th Divisional Signals and bore the Service Number 2337701. News from the Italian controlled prison camp, via the Vatican, was that he was well and happy, and the announcement of his death came as a shock.
He is buried in Bari War Cemetery in Italy in Plot 6, Row D, Grave 39. The Cemetery Register shows his date of death as the 10th September 1942. A private inscription on the headstone reads "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". The circumstances of his death have not been discovered.
He was the only son of Harry Sydney and Eleanor Sarah Primett of 39, Queen St. Hitchin. A photograph of him appeared in the Pictorial newspaper dated 9th December 1941.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Hitchin Grammar School Chronicle, Paul Johnson - local historian, ‘The Unknown Alamein’ by C. Messenger, Historical Encyclopaedia of W.W.II, Herts & Beds Express dated 3 1st Oct 1942, Herts Pictorial dated 9 Dec 1941
