John Kerr MM
Irish Guards
Harry Kee sent me this E-mail:
John was in the Irish Guards and he won his MM in Italy shortly before he was taken POW. He remained in the Guards and rose to ( I think ) RSM.
You have a picture of him with the Tug of War team in 1959 on your web site. Some of his comrades recollections would be gratefully appreciated.
He eventually was awarded the MBE for his later service with the Ulster Defence Regiment, retiring to Cyprus and then returning to Ellesmere near his daughter before he died. If anyone can recall him I would be grateful for any memories, good or bad!
In particular I would appreciate any details of the action in which he gained the MM. "
By the way, I loved the work you have put in and I wish you all the best with the development of your site.
Thanks,
Harry Kee
CSM John Kerr with No.5 Coy.
Tug
Of War Cup Team 1959
From a photograph sent to me by John
Duffy
Ronnie Gamble has sent me more information about John Kerr
Many thanks to him
Sergeant Major John Kerr MBE MM
John Kerr was born in Newtonstewart in County Tyrone on 5 January 1923, the second child in a family of eight. After working for his uncle William for a period in Donegal, John joined the Irish Guards in 1939 at the age of sixteen and a half. In January 1944 he took part in the Anzio landings, just south of Rome.
He stated, “One particular day at Anzio I was bayonet charging across a farm yard and the Germans counter charged us. I pulled the trigger on my rifle and a young German soldier fell to his knees in front of me. He was about the same age as me, 18 years old. He looked at me and he knew he was dying. I knew he was dying. I ran on and we won that day”.
That story appears in Fitzgerald’s (1949) ‘History of the Irish Guards in the Second World War’. The book outlines the last battle of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards at Carroceto on 6 Feb 1944. Page 308 describes why John was awarded the Military Medal:
“Guardsman English, a Bren gunner and Guardsman Kerr, like terriers after rats, shot and bayoneted their way through every stable and up into the lofts”.
Shortly after this incident, his company was almost wiped out in heavy fighting. On that occasion he was nearly shot by the German officer who captured him. He was one of the very few survivors and after the Wehrmacht captured him on 10 February 1944, he spent the remainder of the war in POW camps.
As the Allies advanced he was marched and shipped in railway wagons via the Brenmer Pass to Stalag IVB near Leiuszig, Germany. A month later he was moved to Stalag 357 at Thorn near Warsaw in Poland, and finally to Fallingbostel in Germany.
After his liberation he spent a short time in Newtonstewart to visit his parents and then he returned to the Guards depot. He volunteered to go to Africa to serve with the Gold Coast Regiment.
In 1949 he married Freda Sinclair in Coleraine Baptist Church and adopted the Coleraine area as his new home. There followed periods in Belfast and with the BAOR near Dusseldorf in Germany, after which he was involved in education and training of officer cadets at Eaton Hall in Chester. He then served at the Guards depot in Caterham and at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot.
He retired from the Irish guards after 22 years service and returned to Ulster to concentrate on the education of his children.
He took up a position in the Ulster Special Constabulary, based first in Banbridge and then Garvagh until the B Specials were disbanded in March 1970.
Major Lapsley who was forming E Company of 5UDR in Coleraine town approached him. The OC of E Company 5UDR first met John when he went to Garvagh to seek his help in forming the new E Company in April 1970. He had heard from various sources about John’s military career and other work John had done in the past. After talking to him for a couple of minutes the Officer Commanding knew that he was the man for that challenging task.
At that time John worked for TBF Thompson in Garvagh. When TBF learned that John was about to depart he immediately offered him an inducement of £20 a week. That was a very substantial pay rise in the early 1970s. But John had given his word and, in truth, he was looking forward to a return to army life.
Many of the senior officers who visited Laurel Hill were surprised to meet the man who had trained them years before at the Officer Training School, Warminster.
John only had one week’s holiday a year; he always went to Annual camp, sometimes commandeering the Company Commander’s vehicle as his taxi. He received the MBE as a reward for his efforts to establish E Company 5UDR as an effective and efficient company within the largest infantry regiment in the British Army.
His wife Freda died in 1986, shortly after he retired from the UDR. A restless spirit, after moving house several times he went to live in the village of Oroklini in Cyprus
He died in 1997 at the age of 74 and his ashes now rest in Coleraine Cemetery. You can be sure he often looks across the river Bann towards Laurel Hill House, the home of E Company 5UDR.
