Major William Seymour 52 ME Commando

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 25/04/2012 15:31:59

It is with much sadness that we inform you of the death on Wednesday 22nd June 2011 of Major William Seymour of 52 ME Commando, and 'D' Bttn. Layforce. I have no other details at present.

Rest in peace William

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 09/07/2011 14:23:59

Email from James Owen:

Dear Geoff,

I know that I haven?t been in touch for a while, have been busy researching in the archives. I thought that you might want to know that a former Commando who was the grandfather of a friend of mine died a couple of days ago. He was (Major) William Seymour, who had been adjutant of 52 Cdo in East Africa, and was later in Layforce and then out in Burma. I think he was Scots Guards originally, and born in 1914. I don?t know if he was a member of any of the veterans associations. He wrote a book about the British Special Forces which some of your members no doubt have. I gather that there will be a memorial service in a few weeks? time in case anyone wants particularly to attend.

All the best,

James

Just to clarify, his service in Burma was with SSD1 and he was subsequently among those who went up into China, perhaps with 204. I know there is a bit about that mission on the forum. There are some tapes of him in the IWM talking about his service in East Africa with 52; he missed out on Crete because he had pulled a muscle and so couldn?t march with Layforce.

Here is a link to the Daily Telegraph obituary for Major William Seymour:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/army-obituaries/8723374/Major-William-Seymour.html