Romsey D-Day casualties remembered on 80th anniversary

Lance Corporal George Frederick Philpott, Marine Arthur Edward Carter and Private Arthur Frank Burnett all died in their early 20s on June 6 1944.

Extensive research has been done about the three men by Victoria Burbidge, who runs the Romsey War Memorial Archive. 

Private Philpott was born on April 8 1921. Posted to the 4th Battalion, of the-then Hampshire Regiment, George was called up for active service with the newly formed 1/4th Battalion at the beginning of September 1939.

On June 6 1944 the 16 Platoon C company came under heavy fire on the beach at Le Hamel near Arromanches. Mr Philpott was in charge of a Bren group which took cover beside one of the D-Day tanks. 

READ MORE: D-Day landings vehicle on display at Royal Logistic Corps Museum

It seems likely that the enemy saw this group go to cover and sighted a gun on the forward edge of this tank. Mr Philpott attempted to lead his men out from beside this tank with the obvious intention of gaining a fire position from which he could return the enemy fire. As his group broke cover, he was the first to be fired on and was killed instantaneously, suffering no pain.

Given the catastrophic nature of death it was impossible to identify the remains of Lance Corporal Philpott for burial. With no known grave, he is commemorated on the Bayeux Memorial. He is one of more than 1,800 men of the Commonwealth land forces who died in the early stages of the Normandy campaign and have no known grave.

Marine Carter was born in Sherfield English on December 10 1919. 

In January 1937, and aged 17 years, Arthur enlisted at the Royal Navy Recruiting Office in Orchard Place, Southampton, joining the Royal Marines.

SEE ALSO: Romsey remembers D-Day on 80th anniversary

By June 1944, Arthur had joined Q Troop, 47 Royal Marine Commando which would form part of the D-Day landings in Normandy. On the morning of June 6 1944, and still some way from shore, the landing craft transporting half of the troop to Gold Beach was hit by a shell from the German gun emplacement at Le Hamel, near Arromanche. Fourteen men were wounded and twelve were killed or drowned. In the immediate aftermath of the landings, his wife Gwendoline was notified that Arthur was missing, this news subsequently being upgraded to killed in action. 

For some reason, he was given a date of death of June 7 1944 which led his family to believe that he had survived the beach landing and had been killed in the subsequent fighting. However, his service record states that his body was washed ashore and recovered from the beach on June 11 1944 and buried in one of the temporary cemeteries set back from the beach. As with all D-Day fatalities killed in that area, the body was exhumed later that year and re-buried in the new Bayeux Military Cemetery. 

Private Burnett was born at 75 The Hundred, Romsey, on February 16 1924. 

He was called up on September 21 1942, but was deferred for two months, joining his unit on November 5 1942 where he undertook six week’s initial training at Colchester in Essex. On December 16 1942, he was transferred to 70th Battalion Hampshire Regiment and then to the 11th Battalion on July 5 1943 during which time he undertook specialist training and coastal defence duties. He was finally transferred to 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment on February 16 1944. His first and last taste of action would be on D-Day.

In the absence of any official records or eyewitness accounts, it is impossible to say exactly how Private Burnett met his death, but we know that he was originally buried alongside his comrades in one of the temporary cemeteries set back from the beach. It is, therefore, believed that he was killed coming ashore on Gold Beach or during the attempt to capture the German defensive positions at Le Hamel East.