{"id":6050,"date":"2019-10-03T12:54:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T12:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/?p=6050"},"modified":"2019-10-07T11:26:16","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T11:26:16","slug":"rifleman-tom-hatton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/03\/rifleman-tom-hatton\/","title":{"rendered":"Rifleman Thomas Hatton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Loos Sunday, we were delighted to meet the son and grandson of Rifleman Thomas Charles Hatton, who served with the 1st Battalion in the UK from April  1940 to June 1942.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"603\" height=\"947\" src=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG-20190607-WA0001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG-20190607-WA0001.jpg 603w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG-20190607-WA0001-191x300.jpg 191w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 603px) 100vw, 603px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"726\" src=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/FullSizeRender-1024x726.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6057\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/FullSizeRender-1024x726.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/FullSizeRender-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/FullSizeRender-768x545.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Rifleman Hatton, second row, third from the left; his close friend, Rifleman Leslie Frost, second row, third from the right<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>His son, also named Tom, explained to us that soon after joining up, his father was based in Kent where the battalion was helping the return of the Dunkirk evacuees. After this, they would continue to be positioned in the south east of England during the Battle of Britain period and then spent time at Bognor Regis before the London Irish Rifles moved onto Essex in 1942. It was during this latter period that Rifleman Hatton was seriously injured in a training accident that led him to be formally discharged from army service on 4th June, a few months before the 1st Battalion were to go overseas to the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"715\" src=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_002-1024x715.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6052\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_002-1024x715.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_002-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_002-768x536.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_002.jpg 1418w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Tom Hatton at Bognor, left file, third in row.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"801\" src=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/1940-A-towering-member-of-the-London-Irish-Rifles-___-1024x801.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6103\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/1940-A-towering-member-of-the-London-Irish-Rifles-___-1024x801.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/1940-A-towering-member-of-the-London-Irish-Rifles-___-300x235.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/1940-A-towering-member-of-the-London-Irish-Rifles-___-768x601.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/1940-A-towering-member-of-the-London-Irish-Rifles-___.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>After returning to his wife Daisy and baby son in south London and, despite the effects of his war time injuries, Tom was able to live a very long and eventful life well into his 90s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"689\" src=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_014-1024x689.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_014-1024x689.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_014-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_014-768x516.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_014-75x50.jpg 75w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_014.jpg 1456w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption> Tom and Daisy Hatton with son Thomas. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>During the visit to Connaught House, Tom Hatton jnr shared a few photos and details of his father&#8217;s war time service with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"716\" src=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_003-1-1024x716.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6053\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_003-1-1024x716.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_003-1-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_003-1-768x537.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/WP_20190402_003-1.jpg 1441w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Tom, second face to the right of the beanpole Rifleman.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>It was marvellous to learn more about Rifleman Tom Hatton&#8217;s war time service and meet his son and grandson who, perhaps unsurprisingly, is also called Tom !<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">Quis Separabit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Loos Sunday, we were delighted to meet the son and grandson of Rifleman Thomas Charles Hatton, who served with the 1st Battalion in the UK from April 1940 to June 1942. His son, also named Tom, explained to us that soon after joining up, his father was based in Kent where the battalion was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-second-world-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6050"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6109,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050\/revisions\/6109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonirishrifles.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}