Horace Albert Peers was born on 25 July 1923 and was better known to his friends as Harry. He joined the Grenadier Guards on 5 August 1943 and was demobbed on 4 July 1947. During his service his rank was Guardsman. His Regimental number was 2624346.

He was married to Brenda (died 22 September 2011) and had 5 daughters, 10 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren.

He died on 24 April 2021, aged 97 and was the East Kent Branch’s oldest member of the Grenadier Guards Association and, was their last WW2 veteran.

As a WW2 conscript, he reported to Caterham and after the induction procedure, Harry and others were shown their billet; which was one of the huts way down the bottom from the Fox Gate.

Trained Soldier Wells kept them in prim and proper order and got the squad through the hut discipline. His Squad Instructor was LCpl F Clutton (Late WO1 (RSM) Freddie Clutton MM) who put the Squad through their paces on the parade ground.

After passing out as a Guardsman, Windsor loomed ahead for further training. After that, it was a spell in Wales and then to Howick, Scotland, before being shipped to Italy on active service (Harry recalls that he never fired a shot in Italy).

Added on: 10 May 2021, 00:00