Cryer, Thomas - Driver

(No soldier photo available)

5 Corps Signals, Royal Corps of Signals

Died 15th September 1944.

Age 22

Coriano Ridge was the last important ridge in the way of the Allied force's advance in the Adriatic sector of the Italian campaign. German tanks and paratroops, aided by very severe weather conc_itions, resisted all the attacks on their positions until reinforced British and Canadian divisions launched a successful attack on 12 September 1944. However, this attack marked the beginning of a week of very heavy fighting which cost the Allied forces some 150 men killed each day. Driver Thomas Cryer was one who lost his life at this time.

Thomas was the son of John and Edith Cryer. He was aged 22. As a boy he attended St.James' Day School. He also worshipped at St.James' Church, where he was a member of the Church Institute.

Thomas lies in Coriano Ridge War Cemetery, Italy. The cemetery is just over three kilometres west of the seaside resort of Riccione. The site was selected in April 1945 and it was formed by concentrations from the battlefields in the surrounding area. There are almost 2,000 Commonwealth casualties in the cemetery. Thomas is buried in Plot 4, Row C, Grave 11.