HARGREAVES, John Michael


No.186891, Lieutenant, John Michael HARGREAVES
Aged 22


5th Battalion, Grenadier Guards
Killed in Action on 25th January 1944


John Michael Hargreaves was born on 15th March 1921 (2nd qtr 1921 Chelsea 1a:654) son of Lt-Col. John Carne and Angela HARGREAVES (née GOSCHEN). His parents divorced in 1939 and his father married Monica Gladys DUNCAN.

His address for probate was 53 Whitelands House, Cheltenham Terrace, London SW3. The Army Roll of Honour has him as resident in Somerset.


The 5th Grenadiers were part of the 1st Army in Tunisia before taking part in the landings in Italy at Anzio.
A snippet from "Desperate Valour - Triumph at Anzio" by Flint Whitlock ISBN 13:9780306825736 gives John Hargeaves a mention on Day 1 of the invasion:-
" British General Penney, wanting to see what sort of enemy opposition was in front of him, sent a reconnaissance patrol up the Via Anziate (also known as the Albano Road and the Albano Highway) to scout the area. Lieutenant John Michael Hargreaves, commanding the Grenadier Guards' Carrier Platoon, took a reconnaissance unit made up of Bren gun carriers to scout the highway towards Rome. The patrol went past Aprilia and Campoleone and the Alban Hills, past Lake Albano and the Pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, past the Cinecitta movie studios and the Basilica of St John Lateran and as far as the gate of the Appian Way along the Aurelian Walls, and then turned around and beat it back to Anzio - all without incident. He reported that the patrol had encountered no enemy anywhere along the route, but his report was not acted upon. As one Grenadier Guards officer wrote, "It was the first and only British military visit to Rome until the following June".


Two days later John was killed.




photo C.W.G.C.

John Hargreaves is buried in Anzio War Cemetery, Italy 4:A:3
He is also commemorated at West Downs School, Winchester.

click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details


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