Moscrop Edward 2/Lt 117997
Personnel Entry
Name Moscrop Edward
Army number 117997
Rank 2/Lt
Decorations
Date of birth Born Northumberland 1918.
Age 22 at the time of his death.
Unit Posted as Cadet No 168 OCTU. Joined The Durham Light Infantry - granted an Emergency Commission as a 2/Lt 10/2/1940. Posted to No 4 ITC Brancepeth 24/2/1940. Attached to the 11th Battalion DLI 28/2/1940. Served with the B.E.F. in France. KILLED in ACTION 21/5/1940 while with 11th Battalion DLI.
Company/Battery
Platoon or other sub-unit
Task or role
Joined Brigade 28/2/1940.
Promotions
Wounded
Prisoner of War
Died/Killed in action 21-May-40.
Home address Resident of County Durham. Son of Ernest and Evelyn Norah Moscrop, husband of Muriel E Moscrop, Billingham. Buried Grave 3, Chelers Communal Cemetery. Headstone inscription reads: "ALWAYS IN THE THOUGHTS OF THOSE WHO LOVED HIM". No information is given regarding his initial interment.
Source table 11DLI
For 2/Lt Moscrop's commemorative record please click here
The last known sighting of Lt Moscrop can be found recorded in the War Diary of 23rd Division as, following the ambush at MERCATEL and FICHEUX on 20th May 1940, he made his way to Divisional HQ seeking transport to rescue his men - some of the remnants of 11th Battalion - many of whom had been wounded. He was allocated three trucks and drivers and set off to recover his comrades and bring them to safety. It seems neither he, not the trucks, ever arrived at the location and the men were then captured by the attacking German forces. Whether the other soldier from the 11th Battalion, buried in the same Cemetery, was with Lt Moscrop at the time is unknown, nor is the fate of the drivers of the three trucks. Further research is required.
