COMMEMORATED IN PERPETUITY BY THE

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Edgar Pridham joined the 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment and was stationed in India. Throughout the war they stayed in India honing their jungle warfare skills until October 1944.

The Battalion log reads:

July 1944: Preparing for operations in Burma to start in the autumn.

29 October 1944: The battalion left for Assam.

December 1944: They were at Nathanyit preparing to cross the Chindwin River, [the only route into Burma, at that time].

13 December 1944: The first companies of the battalion crossed the Chindwin from Nathanyit to Naungtaw. They went into action at Kyaikthin.

Private Pridham was killed on 28th December 1944.

The Rangoon Memorial bears the names of almost 27,000 men of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaigns in Burma (now Myanmar) and who have no known grave. The memorial stands in TAUKKYAN WAR CEMETERY, which is the largest of the three war cemeteries in Burma. It was begun in 1951 for the reception of graves from four battlefield cemeteries at Akyab, Mandalay, Meiktila and Sahmaw, which were difficult to access and could not be maintained. The last was an original 'Chindit' cemetery containing many of those who died in the battle for Myitkyina. The graves have been grouped together at Taukkyan to preserve the individuality of these battlefield cemeteries. The cemetery now contains 6,374 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 867 of them unidentified.

Edgar’s parents were from Cornwall. He was the eldest of 4 children - 1 brother, 2 sisters. Before the war Edgar lived and worked in Cholsey, Nr Wallingford with his wife Dorothy Mary (Palmer). They married in June 1939. Their daughter, Eileen Valerie was born in Feb 1940 and their son Roger Mark was born in April 1943, shortly afterwards they moved to 2 High Street, Steventon. Edgar's widowed wife Dorothy is listed as living in Drayton on Forces War Records & CWGC, but listed in the Electoral role for 1945 - 1949 as living at 2 High Street, Steventon. After Edgar’s death Dorothy went on to marry William Dewe of Pound House, Steventon in 1948. 

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