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Lance Corporal JOHN PENNINGTON HARMAN

Service Number: 295822
Regiment & Unit/Ship

Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment

4th Bn.

Date of Death

Died 09 April 1944

Age 29 years old

Buried or commemorated at

KOHIMA WAR CEMETERY

8. E. 3.

India

Kohima 70th Anniversary, India - April 2014: headstone of L. Cpl. J. P. Harman, VC in Kohima War Cemetery

Photographer: CWGC Outer area

  • Country of Service United Kingdom
  • Awards Victoria Cross
  • Additional Info Son of Martin Coles Harman and Amy Ruth Harman, of City of London.
  • Personal Inscription OF LUNDY "THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S"
  • Additional Citation note

    The following details are given in the London Gazette of June 20th, 1944:- At Kohima, Assam, on 8th April 1944, Lance Corporal Harman was commanding a section of a forward platoon. The enemy had established a machine-gun post within 50 yards of his position which became a serious menace to the remainder of his company. Unable to bring the fire of his section on to the post, Lance Corporal Harman went forward by himself and annihilated the post, returning with the enemy machine-gun. The next morning, having first recovered a forward position, he again charged an enemy post alone, shooting four and bayonetting one, thereby wiping out the post. As he returned Lance Corporal Harman received an burst of machine-gun fire in his side and died shortly after reaching our lines. Lance Corporal Harman's heroic action and supreme devotion to duty were largely responsible for the decisive way in which all attacks were driven off by his company.

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