Sapper Henry Arthur Cox

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1. 

   Mrs Shirley Puckett on 23rd September 2019 at 8:44 pm

   Harry Cox was born in London and grew up in Hythe, Kent. He was over 6 feet 3 inches, and called Little Harry to differentiate from his father, Big Harry, who was 6 feet 4 inches. He was apprenticed to a cabinet maker and became qualified. A keen cyclist, he won medals with the Cinque Ports cycling club before the war. He played the piano and clarinet with a small dance band. When the war started he volunteered, hoping his skills would lead him to being a “Chippie” in the Royal Navy. In fact he was drafted into the Royal Engineers.

   After fighting in France, he came back from Dunkirk wearing only the botton half of his pyjamas, having been evacuated from a field hospital. After leave he returned to his unit and was sent to a Bomb Disposal Unit. He worked in London all through the Blitz, and eventually was offered a Commission, which he delcined. It would mean moving from the close-knit unit, who all knew and trusted each other. Their lives literally depended on each other.

   He married Edna shortly before being posted to Egypt. Edna was barely five feet, and wore a tall, orange-blossom tiara to try and “bridge the gap” in their heights. There were no children.

   In the desert, the unit was set to clearing mines. They hated this; bombs they knew; mines were more unpredcitable. They were right. Their lorry went over a mine and was blown up.

   Harry wrote regularly and receiving no letters created anxiety at home, but people said, in the manner of the time, “No news is good news”. It wasn’t — in the Autumn the dreaded orange envelope arrived. In due course it was noticed that Sapper Cox’s name was not on any war memorial. With the help of the Royal British Legion, this oversight was corrected and he is now recorded on the Hythe memorial on the Royal Military Canal bank.

   In my possession is a small snapshot of the ‘gang’ in their lorry, taken shortly before what is called “the incident”. This might be of interest someone related to those concerned.

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     gary on 7th October 2019 at 9:02 am

     Thank you for this insight. Please forward the snapshot and happy to add it to our archive. Kind Regards, Gary

     Reply

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