DOWNER, Harold

Credit: Gary Newman

Serjeant

Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers

Harold was born 1920 in Newport to Mary Ellen DOWNER & Stepson of Thomas SIMMONDS.

Harold died as a Japanese Prisoner of War on the 8th of October 1943, probably whilst working on the notorious Burma – Siam railway. Harold is laid to rest in the Chungkai War Cemetery in Thailand, beneath a Commission Pedestal Marker bearing the Family Inscription: “DAYS ARE PASSING, YEARS GO BY, BUT MEMORIES OF YOU, DEAR SON, WILL NEVER DIE”. Harold lies alongside over 1,600 of his Second World War comrades who were put to work & died on the railway. Harold was 23.

Harold is also remembered on the Newport Borough War Memorial.

CWGC Casualty Record

Cemetary

Sons & Daughters Commemorated Far From Home

Those from the Newport & Carisbrooke area who are buried or commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission outside of the area, both in the UK and in other countries.

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The image is of the Tyne Cot Military Cemetery & Memorial in Belgium.