In memory of Richard Thomas Davis
Richard Thomas Davis was born in Conwy in 1911 to Richard and Mary Davis, writes Adrian Hughes. He grew up at 3 Penmaen Road, in the Morfa area of Conwy, with brother Freddie and sisters Amy and Winnie.
Richard soon made his name as golfer. He was a member of the Conwy (Caernarvonshire) Golf Club, winning many tournaments.
Although underage, he joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers aged 14 years. He served in Gibraltar and Hong Kong in the 1930s. He boxed for his battalion in the lightweight division.
After 10 years’ army service, Richard returned to North Wales and became a London, Midland & Scottish Railway locomotive fireman. He remained an army reservist and when war looked inevitable in the summer of 1939, he was called up.
In November 1939, Richard married sweetheart Betty Evans at St David’s Methodist Church in Craig-y-Don. After the wedding the couple lived in the village, at 5 Pleasant Street. Their daughter Maureen was born in 1940 and Dorothy in 1942.
For the early part of the war Richard’s battalion, the 4th, was stationed in Northern Ireland helping to keep an uneasy peace. By 1942 the regiment was back in Great Britain training for the Allied invasion of mainland Europe which began on 6 June 1944.
Richard’s battalion arrived in France three weeks after the D-Day landings and was soon in action, at the Battle of Evrecy on 16 July 1944. In the cornfields south west of Caen, more than 100 Royal Welsh Fusiliers died and scores were injured in just three days.
A month later, Richard’s battalion crossed the River Orne as part of an Allied pincer movement to surround the German 7th Army which was trying to withdraw from Normandy. On 14 August 1944, Sergeant Richard Davis led a patrol to determine whether the Germans were occupying the village of Acqueville, forward of the Royal Welsh’s position, but encountered an enemy machine gun post. He was killed, aged 33 years.
He is buried at Banneville-le-Campagne war cemetery, on the outskirts of Caen. He is commemorated on Llandudno’s war memorial and Conwy’s Roll of Honour.
With thanks to Maureen Edwards, Richard’s daughter
Return to listing page (Conwy cenotaph)
Return to listing page (Llandudno war memorial)
