Richmond | Albert Samuel
Biography
Albert Samuel Richmond was killed in action on 13-10-1944 in Overloon in the Netherlands at the age of 20. He was initially buried at Th.J. Janssen cemetery and reburied in grave II.E.9. at Overloon CWG Cemetery on 20 May 1944. He was a soldier in the 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment (Service number 4806020). The inscription on his grave reads as follows: ‘God’s greatest gift. remembrance’.
Family background
Albert was born in January 1920. His parents were John William Richmond and Ada Meeds. He had 10 siblings. Ted, Lucy, Walt, George, Kath, Violet, Dot, Bill, Ivy and Derek. Lucy was raised by her grandparents after she contracted polio at the age of 9. His youngest brother Derek sadly drowned at the age of 2.
The Richmonds lived on Holland Fen, Lincolnshire, in England near the village of East Heckington and the town of Heckington. Sadly, none of Albert’s siblings are still alive; his youngest sister died about 5 years ago. The family was farm labourers from generation to generation. Albert’s last job before going to the Suffolk’s was farm labourer.
Albert married Kathleen Starbuck in 1943 somewhere near Wisbech. His older brother Walt was ‘his best man’. During the wedding, military uniforms were worn.
Kathleen served with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). The ATS was established in 1938. Initially, there were only jobs for cooks, clerks, nurses, shop stewards or drivers. But eventually there were more than 100 different jobs at the ATS, including serving in anti-aircraft batteries. This expansion allowed more men to be released for frontline service. More than 250,000 women served in the ATS during World War II, making it the largest women’s service.
His brother Walt was in the Home Guard. The Home Guard was formed in May 1940 as Britain’s ‘last line of defence’ against the German invasion. Members of this ‘Dad’s Army’ were mostly men above or below conscript age and those unfit or ineligible for frontline military service. The militia developed into a well-equipped and well-trained army of 1.7 million men. Men in the Home Guard were not only prepared for invasions, but also performed other duties, such as clearing bombs and manning anti-aircraft guns and coastal artillery.
Albert and Kathleen had a son Kenneth who was born in 1944. Albert sadly died before meeting his son. A letter was sent to him to tell him that he had become the father of a son Kenneth. However, this letter was only delivered to him in the Netherlands, which meant he could no longer apply for special leave to go home to see his family.
Kathleen never remarried. A saying of hers was ‘They took the one I loved, and I won’t marry again’. This courageous woman stuck to her statement and lovingly raised her son Kenneth on her own.
Kathleen and Kenneth visited the Netherlands once. Two of his sisters also visited his grave. Albert’s older brother Walt, Mandy’s grandfather, who wrote to us, was sadly never able to visit his grave.
“The death of his brother Albert was the greatest grief in his entire life. He would be so moved to see how carefully his brother’s grave is maintained. Albert’s death still brought tears to my grandfather’s eyes when he was well into his 80s. The loss was a grief that never healed.”
‘I myself very much hope that one day I can visit Albert’s grave on behalf of my grandfather, I know it would have meant the world to him.’
Albert’s name is on the war memorial in East Heckington, where his brother Walt and his wife, among others, laid flowers for him every year on Remembrance Day. Mandy laid crosses at the memorial in Westminster Abbey on Remembrance day.
Military career
Albert enlisted in the army in 1940. It is not known exactly whether he immediately joined the 1st Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment.
After evacuating Dunkirk in May 1940, the battalion spent the next four years training in the UK for the invasion of Normandy in 1944. They landed on Sword Beach on D-Day, 6 June, and were involved in the attack and capture of Hillman Fort on that day. They moved on through France and Belgium, with heavy fighting costing many lives at Chateau de la Londe and Tinchebrai before arriving in the Netherlands, where they reached Molenhoek, just below Nijmegen, on 1 October.
By then, Operation Market Garden had failed to capture the bridge at Arnhem, leaving the Allies in a narrow salient through the Netherlands. The battalion would therefore be part of Operation Aintree. The objective was to attack Overloon and clear the enemy salient west of the River Maas. They therefore turned south, via Mook and Rijkevoort to approach occupied Overloon from the north.
The attack on Overloon was delayed by heavy rain and very muddy conditions until the afternoon of 12 October. The plan was for the 1st Suffolk Regiment to attack on the right while the 2nd Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment continued on the left. Early that morning, the battalion moved through St Anthonis and Oploo to a staging area to attack Overloon. A barrage of artillery advanced 100 metres every five minutes with the battalion following. The battalion reached their objective that day which was just west of Overloon, but with 10 men killed and 57 wounded. During that night, the battalion was exposed to fairly heavy shell and mortar fire. The next day, 13 October, the battalion moved its position slightly to the east, along the main road from Overloon to Venray. This was a safer position than the previous night because other regiments had cleared the nearby woods of the enemy. Nevertheless, four men were killed and 20 wounded that day, including Albert Samuel Richmond.
His other comrades killed on this day were Stanley Douglas Bowyer, John Alfred Thomas Warnell and George Victor Willoughby.
Of the Suffolk Regiment, 1st Bn. 23 men are buried at Overloon War Cemetery.
