257130 L/Cpl Horace Jack "Gonnet (Jack)" Keene British Army 3rd Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery from:Richmond, Surrey Jack Keene was my dad. He served in the 3rd Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery in WW2. He was a butcher by trade.
He volunteered for war service and joined the East Surrey Regiment 2 weeks after getting married in May 1940. I know his unit was involved with coastal defence work along the West and South West coastline of England during which time he got his stripe for catching a spy, and his Army false teeth after being blown up in a very bad bombing raid on Plymouth. I remember he told me that he volunteered to be a gunner on merchant ships & did his training at Shoeburyness.
I believe he went to sea in 1943 & was serving in the Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship until 1946.
He told me that he had visited every country on the globe (as it was then) bar 7, some multiple times.
There was a little cardboard box which had six medals in it (one with bar), it also had two letters in it, one was a copy of a letter from King George V1 to the Commander of Forces congratulating all concerned for their heroism in making 20 trips across to the Normandy Beaches from D Day onward & the other one was for prize money awarded to my dad for his part in capturing a U Boat at sea.
My dad died aged 72 at the start of 1987. He had been going to The British Legion Club at Hanworth Middlesex in the hope of meeting up with old comrades but although he never found anyone he served with, he did make a lot of new friends who had been DEMS during the war and they all helped to give him a good send off at his funeral.
Unfortunately, the medals & letters were stolen by a lodger at my Mum's home. Somewhere there is a diary which Dad kept while at sea, some photos and his good conduct discharge papers from the 3rd Marine Regiment R.A.
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