War Memorial
Serjeant John Albert Thomas Curtis, whose army number was 6346488, served with the 4th Battalion of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment during the Second World War. He lost his life at sea on 28 June 1942, at the age of 27, and his name is recorded on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey.
Although born in Hampshire, John had strong family ties to Leigh. His parents, Thomas and Elsie Curtis, made their home on Lealands Avenue, and it was there, at number 7, that his wife Joan Mary Curtis was living when the news came. Official word reached Mrs Curtis that her husband was missing in the Middle East, and the report appeared in The Courier on 23 October 1942.
John had been with the army since the war began, seeing service in France and Belgium and surviving the evacuation from Dunkirk. Before military life, he had been educated at Edenbridge and worked for Messrs. Charles Baker and Co. of Tonbridge.
The photograph accompanying this profile is credited to Les Featherstone. The village's local history society remembers Serjeant Curtis with gratitude.