Second World War - Lynsted Memorial Project
Harold Lewis WILLIS (of Luddenham)
b. 6th October 1912 Stoker 1st Class |
Born 6 October 1912 in Margate, Harold was the son of Lewis Elei and Ellen Mable (née Kemp) Willis of Bysing Wood Cottages Luddenham.
In 1940, Harold married Marjorie Rosa Burford, whose brother we also commemorate. She lived at Four Oaks, Luddenham.
Harold was a career sailor, enlisting with the Royal Navy in 1935. Service preceding WW2 took Harold to Palestine and to Spain at the time of their civil war. In 1940 he witnessed the evacuation of men from Dunkirk. Serving on the destroyer, HMS Roxborough, he saw service in the convoys of the North Atlantic.
However, in 1943, Harold was invalided out of the service due to illness. He died on 23 November 1944 aged 31. Just four months later his wife Marjorie died aged just 21. They are buried together in Luddenham Churchyard.
