We have received a note to inform us that Sidney Belcher, who served with the 2nd Battalion, died peacefully on 5th August at the age of 94 years and 9 months.

Sidney, from Cannock in Staffordshire, joined up with the London Irish Rifles in 1940 and trained with them as part of the ‘Carriers’ throughout Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England before embarking for North Africa in November 1942. In the first major engagement for the battalion at Hill 286 in Tunisia, Sidney was taken prisoner, sent first to Italy, and later to Austria where he worked as a lumberjack before being liberated by American forces in May 1945.

Sidney was able to write about his war time experiences in a personal memoir “Another Feather In Me Cap”, which was published in 1998.

Sidney’s funeral will take place at 10.30am on Friday 16th August, at Stafford Crematorium, Tixall Road, Stafford ST18 0XZ. Flowers, or donations to Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, Hawthorn House, Dudley Road, Stourbridge DY9 8BQ (www.midlandsairambulance.com).

QUIS SEPARABIT.