Sergeant Reginald A W Thornton

Reginald Alfred William Thornton was the son of William Henry and Annie Thornton, of Ballsbridge, Dublin, Irish Republic.

He was enlisted into the 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers before volunteering for airborne forces.

Sgt Thornton served with 11th Special Air Service (SAS) Battalion, which was redesignated as 1st Parachute Battalion (1 Para Bn) on 15 September 1941, and assigned to 1 Para Bn's S Company during the reorganisation.

He undertook parachute training on No 3 Advanced Training Course at RAF Ringway, which ran from 21 to 29 January 1942.

Shortly before 1 Para Bn was deployed to North Africa for Operation Torch, Thornton was serving as Platoon Sergeant in 9 Platoon, T Company. 

He was killed in action on 5 February 1943, aged 26 years old, during a counter-attack by German forces on recently taken positions held by 1 Para Bn on Djebel Mansour.

Sgt Thornton has no known grave but is commemorated on the Medjez-El-Bab Memorial at the Medjez-El-Bab War Cemetery, Tunisia.

Memorial photograph courtesy of CWGC.