Here is a brief biography of my Uncle Victor.

VICTOR SAMUEL GADD
Born: March 19th, 1914 in Wordsley, Worcs.
Death: April 26-30, 1941 (Greece or Crete).

Victor worked in a factory before joining the army in his late teens.
He went to Egypt (pre-war) with the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars. 
At age 22, he won a silver-plated boxing trophy. It was awarded in Cairo in 1936. 
He left the army before 1939. 
He then re-joined the army when war broke out, but this time it was with 
the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars and he was killed in action while serving with them.

Medal List (all awarded posthumously):
Palestine. General Service Medal (Palestine): No. 16, World War II.
Britain. No. 1, 1939-45 Star
North Africa. #4 Africa Star
1939-1945 #10 War Medal

When war was declared in September 1939 4th Hussars were part of 
1st Light Armoured Brigade, 1st Armoured Division, stationed at Tidworth, Hampshire. 
They then served in May 1940 in the BEF, with 1st Light Armoured Brigade during 
the Fall of France, being evacuated at Dunkirk. After being re-equipped and re-trained 4th Hussars 
arrived in the Middle East in January 1941 serving as part of 1st Armoured Brigade in Greece in 
support of 6th Australian Infantry Division, in March 1941. 
During this campaign the largest engagement was at the Corinth Canal bridge where the 4th Hussars
fought a rearguard action with the advancing enemy allowing the rest of the allied forces to retreat 
to the Peloponnese Peninsula. As part of this action all the senior officers and over 400 men of the 
4th Hussars were taken prisoner. Two Officers and 14 Other Ranks were killed in the fighting and a 
further 14 Other Ranks were drowned in the subsequent evacuation.


DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH

The Place
Family members (his widow, brother, and sister-in-law) steadfastly believed that Victor was KIA in 
Crete in April 1941. Indeed, the inscription (in his brother Thomas’ handwriting) on the back of the 
original grave marker photograph, says that Victor was killed in the Battle of Crete. Also, after the 
war, his widow Edith, was supposedly told by Victor’s friend and fellow trooper, that he was shot by a 
sniper in Crete. The identity of this friend is not known and the story is not verified to date. However, 
in April 1941, the 4th Hussars R.A.C. were involved in the battle for the Corinth Canal Bridge in Greece 
as part of W-Force (see below where part of the Order of Battle is reproduced with the position of 
the 4th Hussars marked), and they sustained heavy casualties fighting in the rearguard action. 
Furthermore, the Battle of Crete did not begin until May 20th, 1941. In view of this, it would seem that 
the place of death for Victor would be Corinth Bridge, Greece. However, although it seems certain that 
Victor would have fought at Corinth, the War Diary entry shows that depending on the precise date of death, 
he may not have been killed there.

The Date
The date of death (DOD) for Victor on his original grave marker clearly has the DOD 28-4-1941, yet an 
early Commonwealth War Dead Commission (CWGC) record shows the DOD to be 26 April, 1941. A transcription 
error between 28 and 26 is feasible, but a later version of the CWGC record and the permanent headstone, 
has the DOD as between April 26 & 30, 1941. The precise DOD is significant in placing Victor in Greece or 
Crete when he was killed. The War Diary extract indicates that although the 4th Queen’s R.A.C. were at the 
Corinth Bridge on 26th and 27th April, the surviving portion of the 4th Queen’s Hussars left that area and, 
in fact, landed in Crete on 28th April. Therefore, this crucial piece of information lends credence to the 
possibility that Victor was indeed killed on 28th April 1941 in Crete (although not in the Battle of Crete per se). 
Perhaps it is even more plausible that he would be killed by a sniper in this situation, rather than in the heavy 
bombing environment of the 26th and 27th in Greece.

Interestingly, the field diary has a note on April 30 saying that because of the complete loss of senior 
officers in these few days of battle, details of events were few and that these entries were simply to provide 
a guide for the more detailed War Diary to be written after the war. This may have led later recorders to consider 
all precise DOD for this event to be in question and hence, their giving a date range in place of the exact date 
for Victor’s death.