As a break from researching history, I have started looking at my mum’s side of the family tree. This has always fascinated me as my parents trees have turned out to be very similar. Both were born on the outskirts of London (one north, the other south) but without realising, both sets of parents gravitated to the area their grandparents lived, and my parents even closer. I unwittiingly moved into the village my ancestors had lived for hundreds of years, and one of my friends turned out to be a cousin a couple of times removed. Researching local history has meant I have been able to get a closer look at their lives. At some point I would like to research all the places my ancestors lived.

Over the last few years some of my work has been on the First World War, but last year it turned to the Second.

I had been in our church for a heritage function and ended up flicking through the books on our village War Memorial. These were put together by the wonderful Vic Sirrett, who is sadly no longer with us. However, there were gaps in the knowledge of a couple of the names, John Horn was one of them. With the help of Find My Past I was anle to track down his records, and find out what happened to him and why he was on our memorial.

John lived with his parents at the Ascott Estate office as his father, Arthur, was the estate manager for Ascott House, Wing. John was a bank clerk, presumably in Leighton Buzzard. By the time his death was reported in 1944, his parents had moved to Bexhill-on-Sea which was why Vic struggled in finding John.

When John enlisted he was placed with the Bedfordshire Yeomanry as part of the Royal Artillery, as a gunner. John was part of the force that was sent out to Singapore in the winter of 1941/42. It was during this period that the Japanese were trying to gain control of the island, and despite desperate attempts by the British forces, Singapore fell on 15 February 1942. John was initially recorded as MIA (Missing in Action), then later this was recorded as POW (Prisoner of War). He was sent to Changi POW camp with most of the British Army. Life would have been quite good at the start as the Japanese were not bothered about the POWs, However, as the weeks went by life became harsher and stricter. The Japanese felt there was no honour in being captured and so became cruel in their treatment. According to the records, John ended up in the Roberts Barracks hospital. This was part of the original British barracks on the island, and was for the critically ill. He finally died on 7 October 1942 from dysentry and a weak heart. John was interred at the Changi graveyard originally, but was repatriated to the Krangi War Cemetery on 26 April 1946.

Now John can have his Commonwealth Grave certificate recorded in our church. If anyone has any other information on this subject, then please let me know.