RONALD FRANCIS GOODING
Born: 21st October 1918, Ipswich.
Died: 14th February 1942; Age: 24; Killed in the fighting for Singapore/Malaya at Malaya, Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, Phillipines.
Residence: 9, Cardinal Street, Ipswich.
Occupation: Upholsterer.
Rank: Private; Service Number: 5827631.
Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 4th Battalion.
Memorial Reference:
Column 55.
Singapore.
Father: Francis William Brown, born January 1868, Ipswich.
Mother: Agnes Eliza Suzanna Gooding (nee Catchpole), born September 1877, Ipswich.
ENGLAND & WALES REGISTER 1939
Ronald was an Upholsterer. He was living with his parents and brother at their family home – 9, Cardinal Street, Ipswich.
Francis, a Boot Repairer.
Agnes, unpaid Domestic Duties.
Dennis William Gooding, a Warehouseman and Storekeeper, born August 1914, Ipswich.
In 1940, Ipswich, Ronald married Pauline Elizabeth Jones, born November 1919, Ipswich – daughter of Wilfrid John T. Jones, a carpenter and Beatrice May Jones (nee Howles), of 4, May Road, Ipswich.
They had 1 daughter.
The 4th Battalions were attached to the 18th East Anglian Division.
15 February 1942: After the fall of Singapore, approximately 620 of the Battalions were taken POW and later mostly died on the Burma-Thailand Railway.
The Battle of Singapore
Fierce fighting on the roads and waterways leading to Singapore held back the Japanese attack on the city, many units running out of supplies and ammunition. The City finally surrendered after its water supply was cut off and the fear of civilian casualties. Thousands of troops were taken and used as slave labour. This was the largest British surrender in in WW2 . 80,000 British, Indian and Australian troops in Singapore became prisoners of war, joining 50,000 taken by the Japanese in the earlier Malayan Campaign.
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