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PERKINS, Frederick Charles (1922-1945) – Worcestershire Regiment

Frederick Charles Perkins was born at Badsey in 1922, the eldest of three children of John Perkins, a market gardener, and his first wife, Elsie Dorothy (née Heming).  He was a pupil at Badsey Council School from 1927-1936. 

At the start of the war, at the time of the 1939 Register, Frederick was working as a market gardener, assisting his father.  He lived with his widowed grandmother, parents and sisters at 5 Synehurst, Badsey.

Frederick joined the Worcestershire Regiment (Service No 5125346), serving with the 2nd Battalion.  In 1942 in the Portsmouth district, he married Constance Winifred Yeates.  They had a son, Reginald Ernest J, born in December 1942 in the Portsmouth district.

Following the fall of Singapore in February 1942, the 2nd Battalion, who were in India, were moved to Madras as there was the belief at the time that the Japanese would invade India across the Bay of Bengal. In November 1944 the 2nd Battalion advanced in to Burma.  In early May 1945, while the war in Europe was reaching its dramatic conclusion, the 2nd battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment was still engaged fighting the Japanese in Burma.  Lance Sergeant Perkins was killed in Burma on 29th May 1945, aged 22.  He is buried in Taukkyan War Cemetery, Burma.  The following words are inscribed on his grave:  “He did his duty for his country, he died that we might live.”