Great Bealings – St. Mary’s Church (Memorial to Edward Charles Porter)
This memorial to Private Edward Charles Porter is located in St. Mary’s Church in Great Bealings and he was the one villager to lose his life in the Second World War. Edward was born on 18 June 1924 and he was the son of Ernest Albert and Florrie Annie Porter from the village. At the 1939 Register, he’s listed as living at ‘Homeby’ on Boot Street and was working as a market gardener labourer.
Edward served in the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment and his service number was 14371165. By October 1943, the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment was actively engaged in operations near Tamu, a strategically important area in Burma close to the Indian border. Their duties involved extensive patrolling in the Kabaw Valley and along the line of the River Chindwin. This period of patrolling and reconnaissance placed them directly in the path of the impending Japanese offensive.
The anticipated Japanese offensive, codenamed “U-Go” was launched in March 1944 with the ambitious aim of invading India and capturing the key Allied bases of Imphal and Kohima. As this major offensive began to unfold, the 1st Devons found themselves playing a critical role in the defensive battles. They were heavily involved in defending the series of hills that ran along the vital Tamu Road as this road was a crucial artery for communication and supply, and its control was paramount for both the advancing Japanese and the defending Allied forces.
The War Diary of the 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, provides specific details about the action in which Private Porter lost his life. On 21 March 1944, the battalion launched an attack against a small, enemy-held hill. This assault was initiated from a feature known as “Devon Hill”. The designation of this starting point as “Devon Hill” suggests it may have been a position recently captured by, or significantly associated with, the Devonshire Regiment, a common practice for naming features in a rapidly evolving battlefield. The attack involved A and B Companies of the 1st Devons and during the assault, B Company, along with the Battalion Headquarters element, came under heavy machine gun fire from well-sited Japanese positions. Two men from the battalion were killed in this specific attack and one of these was Private Edward Charles Porter, dead aged just 19.
His body wasn’t recovered and he is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial in Myanmar, a very long way from home. Edward, whose nickname was Jack, gave his life for his country, as the memorial states. His father, Ernest Albert Porter died at the age of 1983 at the age of 95, that’s a long time where he was likely grieving for his lost son, and his mother Florrie Annie Porter died in 1967.
