No.232597, Lieutenant, Michael LANE
Aged 21
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Michael Lane was born in 1923 (Newmarket Q2-1923 3B:756), son of Lindsay and Mary LANE (née CORNFORTH), of Moulton Manor Farm.
At Manor, Moulton in the 1939 register were his parents, father Lindsay [8-1-1882] a farmer, and mother Enid Mary [11-1-1902]. Michael's death was registered in Swindon, Wiltshire. His twin brother John Lindsay Lane was killed in Korea in 1951. see here |
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On the Army Roll of Honour he is shown as resident in Suffolk The 8th Rifle Brigade, part of 29th Armoured brigade, were involved in the action around Caen in June 1944. They joined the bridgehead south of the river Odon near Tourmauville which had been taken by the 2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders on the 27th June 1944. A gentleman by the name of Eric Patience, in the 8th Battalion at the time, recounted on BBC (Contributed by Eric Patience Article ID: A1324298 Contributed on: 07 October 2003) that: " It was hell in one village called Gavrus - we took it but there were machine gun nests at one end that we had to capture. We lost one officer by the name of Lane. His family was a well known jockey family from Newmarket. We also lost our platoon Sgt., and plenty of others were wounded." Gavrus is a small town just south west of Caen. In the book "From the Beaches to the Baltic: The Story of the G Company, 8th Battalion, the Rifle Brigade..." by Noel Bell there is a record that No 10 and No 11 Platoons were on a patrol to investigate a wooded area near Hill 112 which was not a hill as you may see it, more a slight rise in the ground. From a strongpoint disguised as a refuse dump, a low angle mortar was fired which landed amongst 11 Platoon, rendering them all casualties. 10 Platoon came their assistance and in a fresh outbreak of machine-gun and mortar fire Lt Michael Lane was wounded together with several others. Michael died very soon after being evacuated back to England. It remains to be determined what relationship he had to Freddie Lane the jockey. |
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