McKie Lawrence CSM
Personnel Entry
Name McKie Lawrence
Army number 4445160
Rank Private.
Decorations Service Awards - including the Burma Star and the Territorial Efficiency Decoration.
Date of birth Born in Birtley 12/4/1909.
Age 64 at the time of his death.
Unit Enlisted in The Durham Light Infantry - Territorial Army - for 4 years, at Birtley on 16/3/1926 at the age of 17. Transferred to the Middlesex Regiment 20/7/1928. Posted to the 8th Battalion. Service extended to 12 years on 3/3/1929. Relegated to the A Reserve 3/3/1930. In 1932 enlisted in Uxbridge in the Middlesex Regiment until 1939. Later posted to the 2/8th Battalion (2nd Battalion, Kensington Regiment). Mobilised 2/9/1939. Served in Iceland 15/10/1940 - 31/5/1942. Returned to the UK. Posted 24th Machine Gun Training Centre. Posted to 20 F.T.C 12/8/1942. Posted to 30th Battalion Middlesex Regiment 10/10/1942. Posted to Infantry Instructional Classification Centre 13/3 - 10/4/1943.
17/6/1943 Posted to India. Transferred to the Royal Sussex Regiment 24/2/1945 and posted to the 9th Battalion. Served Burma until 25/9/1945. Posted to Strensall Barracks, Yorkshire 1945 - 1947. Discharged in Warwick in 1947 under discharge certificate 13053. Relegated to the Z(T) Class Reserve. Subsequently served in the Royal Air Force as a Machine Gun Instructor 29/9/1947 - 6/12/1952 with the Air Force Number 4027420, including being posted to Germany. Admitted to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea 17/7/1972 as an In-Pensioner aged 63. Died 1/9/1973.
Company/Battery Not yet confirmed.
Platoon or other sub-unit Probably Company HQ.
Task or role Machine Gunner. Company Sergeant Major. Regimental Sergeant Major. Sergeant Instructor.
Joined Brigade When the 2nd Kensingtons were allocated to the 70th Infantry Brigade Group.
Promotions Appointed Lance Corporal 12/2/1936. Promoted Corporal 19/2/1937. Promoted Sergeant 1/6/1938. Promoted 13/7/1939 to Company Sergeant Major - Warrant Officer Class II. He briefly served as Regimental Sergeant Major (WO 1) from 28/2/1945 to May 1945. Returned to CSM Rank as a result of medical downgrading. In the RAF he served as a Sergeant Instructor.
Wounded Not as far as is known.
Prisoner of War Not as far as is known.
Died/Killed in action Date of death 1/9/1973 from a condition (transverse myelitis) understood to be a rare complication of malaria. Registered in Chelsea Q3 1973, from the Royal Hospital. Probate granted in London 14/12/1973 in the sum of £1032.
Home address Worked as a Blacksmith at the time of his Attestation. Later worked as a Bricklayer. No next of kin noted in the Enlistment Book entry but his father was Alonzo McKie and his mother Jane (nee Pickering). Married Dora Wiggins in April 1931 at Uxbridge, Middlesex. Church of England. In the 1911 Census he is shown as living with his grandparents, parents and siblings at 40, Gladstone Terrace, Birtley. In the 1921 Census he was living with his family at 40, Mitchell Street, Birtley. He moved to Chelsea after the death of his wife.
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