John Colton, Chairman of The Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Trust, shares the story of Trooper James Audsley, killed in action on 26 April 1945. It serves as a poignant reminder of the sacrifice made by so many in the service of their country.
As we quite rightly remember and celebrate VE Day, I am also minded to remember a young Trooper, James Audsley, of Sussex, who served in 44th Royal Tank Regiment. He was the last member of his Regiment to be killed in action on 26 April 1945, as the tanks fired their final rounds capturing the German port of Bremen.
His Battle Casualty Card simply records his death as “Killed in Action”. Poignantly, it also records that his young wife, Audrey, and his parents, William and Nellie, were only informed of his death on 7 May – three days after Field Marshal Montgomery had signed the first surrender document on Lüneburg Heath and one day before Churchill’s famous VE Day announcement. I cannot begin to imagine the intense heights and depths of emotion that his family must have experienced in those days of tragedy for them, but relief and joy for the nation.
Trooper Audsley’s name is recorded alongside 12,500 others displayed in the Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Room in The Tank Museum at Bovington, Dorset. These men were all husbands or brothers, fathers or sons. At this distance, it is difficult to comprehend the sheer scale of sacrifice made by so many in the service of their country. Perhaps, during this moment of joy and celebration, in a world again riven with geopolitical uncertainty, we should reflect on the words of Pericles, written around 430 BC:
“Take these men as your example. Like them remember that prosperity can only be for the free, that freedom is the sure possession of those alone have the courage to defend it.”
Lest We Forget
John Colton
Chairman, The Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Trust
