NAM.1975-03-63-19-72

Photograph: L/Cpl. Cornish, "B" Squadron, killed at RUFFINI. Shows a white grave marker. Inscribed on grave marker, 'R.I.P. / 7938802 L/Cpl. C. CORNISH / 3/4 COUNTY OF LONDON YEOMANRY / KILLED IN ACTION 18/8/44'. The 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) War Diary details the fighting in the Falaise area in August 1944. On the 18 August it records the loss of three tanks to German anti-tank fire during an advance under the cover of a smokescreen. The casualties for the day are unnamed but listed as two officers and eight other ranks killed with seven men wounded and four missing. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives the age of Cyril Thomas Merlyn Cornish at his death on 18 August 1944 as 22, and he is recorded as being buried at the Banneville-la-Campagne War Cemetery. His headstone bears the personal inscription, ‘Greater Heart Ne'er Beat On Earth Than Died Within Thy Breast’. From a photograph album containing 211 photographs compiled by Maj Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3/4 County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), 1944-1945.

World War Two, North West Europe (1944-1945)