2872929 Serjeant George Thomas Coleclough
5th Battalion The Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry
Killed In Action on 16 August 1944 aged 34
214 Infantry Brigade, 43rd Wessex Division
The 5 DCLI landed on June 22, 1944, Gold Beach, near Courseulles, when the sea was so rough that the soldiers had to jump into chest-deep water and wade ashore, carrying weapons – and bicycles – over their heads. Precious items, such as photographs, were stowed under helmets
The first action of 5 DCLI was the village of Cheux on June 26, 1944. They started the advance towards Cheux at two in the morning, in pouring rain. The roads and fields were sodden and muddy. Everything was chaotic. The anti-tank guns and the other vehicles got held up in the narrow sunken lanes, and they arrived in Cheux without them. The troops who 5 DCLI were meant to replace had withdrawn too soon – before they got there – so the village was back in German hands.
What followed on that day made by 5 DCLI famous along the entire front ... For further details about George and what happened next please click here
Submitted and collated by: Yves Le Cuziat MBE
