John Lewindon

Born in October 1919 in Muswell Hill, London, John Lewindon was living and working in Hemel Hempstead when he was called up and joined the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment. In July 1940 he was transferred to the 16th Battalion DLI - one of the so called "Dunkirk" battalions raised during the summer of 1940. During the Second World War, he served in North Africa, Italy, Greece and Austria and was awarded the Military Medal, as a Corporal, for his bravery at Salerno in Italy in September 1943, when he drove back a German patrol with his 'Tommy' (sub-machine) gun. He was "de-mobbed" on 4 August 1946 and in 1947 married Freda, a war widow with two young daughters. He then worked as a maintenance engineer in industry. John Lewindon died in Hertford on 10 August 2001.