CHAMBERLAIN, CHARLES ERNEST
Rank:
Service No:
Date of Death:
Age:
Regiment/Service:
Grave Reference:
Rank:
Service No:
Date of Death:
Age:
Regiment/Service:
Grave Reference:
Private
4748983
04/10/1944
27
Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders 5th Bn.
I. D. 19.
Additional Information:
Initially buried at the Sint Oedenrodeseweg 11, Best.
I can only provide a little information as most of the family who would have known him are no longer with us.
Born September 1917 to Ernest and Elizabeth Ann Chamberlain in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire, England.
He was the 2nd of 7 children only one of whom is still alive.
Before joining the Army in 1940 (we think) he worked at Grimethorpe Colliery. He was married briefly to Edith but there were no children.
On joining he was assigned to the 5th Battalion Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. After training he would have joined his Regiment in action in the Western Desert against Rommel and the Afrika Korps, then participated in the invasion of Sicily. After that the regiment
was recalled to England in preparation for D-Day.
After D-Day they fought through France and Belgium and on into Holland where he sadly lost his life.
From the service records of Charles Ernest Chamberlain, the following account can be reconstructed.
Charles Ernest Chamberlain was born on 29 July 1917 in Grimethorpe, near Barnsley, Yorkshire. In civilian life he worked as a labourer. He enlisted in the British Army on 31 October 1939 and joined the York and Lancaster Regiment.
He married Edith Johnson on 6 January 1940. The couple had no children.
His overseas service was extensive. He served in Palestine from 14 February 1940 until 31 May 1940, followed by service in Egypt from 16 June 1940 to 4 November 1940. He was then posted to Crete from 5 November 1940 until 29 May 1941, after which he returned to Egypt, serving there from 30 May 1941 until 5 November 1943.
During his later service he was transferred to the Green Howards on 24 April 1943, back to the York and Lancaster Regiment on 20 June 1943, to the West Yorkshire Regiment on 6 June 1944, and finally to the Cameronians on 5 August 1944.
According to his service records, he was 5 feet 3 inches tall, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Charles Ernest Chamberlain was killed in action on 4 October 1944.
Cudworth War Memorial