Name
George Edward Tuffield(*1)
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
15/12/1941
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
6284710
The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
KNIGHTSBRIDGE WAR CEMETERY, ACROMA
1. G. 7.
Libya
Headstone Inscription
None
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 was born in Hertfordshire and had attended St. Mary's School in Hitchin and was a keen musician. He was resident in Hertfordshire when he joined the army as a regular soldier in 1931 and loved the army, serving in the 1st Battalion of the Regiment
His service included seven years in India. Pre-war he also worked for some months at the RAF. station at Henlow in Bedfordshire. He was called up again as a Reservist in 1938 and posted to the 1st Battalion of the Buffs with the Service Number 6284710 and his family did not see him from the time that war was declared. He was killed in action in Cyrenaica in North Africa at the Battle of .Knightsbridge southwest of Tobruk during Operation ‘Crusader’.
There are some discrepancies concerning his death. A newspaper report states that he was killed in 1940 and that his age was 28 years. Also the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records, including his gravestone, show him as ‘6284710 Lance Corporal G.E. Duffield 1/Buffs’ buried in Plot 1 Row G Grave 7 in the Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma in Libya.
He was the eldest son of Mr and Mrs A. Tuffield of 11, Redhill Rd, Hitchin and sadly they were to lose two sons during the war. He was unmarried.
Additional Information
*1 His attestation form shows that he enlisted in the name of ‘Duffield’ and that is how he is recorded by the CWGC, but the other records record him and family member as ‘Tuffield’.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Mr J. Tuffield - his brother, Ministry of Defence, Herts Pictorial dated 20th Jan 1942 and 13th Feb 1945
