Alan George Paddock                                                                        Colin, Geoffrey and Alan Paddock

                                                                                                              The images above are copyright©Rory J M Paddock 2006

PADDOCK, ALAN GEORGE. 204311. Captain, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. 2nd Bn. The Hertfordshire Regiment. Attached 7th Rajput Regiment, Indian Army.  Killed in action: Burma. 27/01/1944. Age 21. Son of John Edward and Ethel Grace Paddock (née Bullard) of 38 Marine Parade, Dover, Kent. Born: Dover, Kent. 21/3/1922.  Enlisted: in the ranks in 1940 and later commissioned. Cemetery: Taukkyan War Cemetery, Burma (Myanmar). Ref: 4. K. 16.

Alan Paddock attended Dover County School and was under age when he enlisted in the army in 1940.  He obtained a wartime commission at age 19 and was attached to the Indian Army, serving with the 8th Army in North Africa prior to being posted to Burma, where he was killed in action during an attack on a Japanese position.  Taukkyan War Cemetery, where he lies buried, is about 35 km north of Yangon (formerly Rangoon).  He had two brothers, Colin Paddock (1920-94) and Geoffrey John Paddock (1923-2001), both of whom also served in the army during WWII.  Colin joined the army as a career choice prior to the outbreak of hostilities.  A regular officer, he was taken prisoner during the war, but managed to escape and made a ‘home run’; an escapade for which he was awarded the Military Cross.  Geoffrey followed Alan’s footsteps in gaining a wartime commission from the ranks and serving with the Indian Army.  As with Colin, he continued in the army after the war as a career soldier.  Their father had also been a soldier and, in fact, the Paddock connection with Dover came about through the army.  John Edward Paddock (1895-1968) was a sapper in the Royal Engineers before and during WWI and had been ‘born into the army’.  His father, George Paddock (1856-1930), was a “Shropshire Lad” who left his native county in 1879 upon enlistment in the Royal Artillery and settled finally in Dover, to become a “Man of Kent” by residence.  A number of his children, including John, were born at Dover Castle while he was stationed there as a gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery.  Whereas John’s birth was registered with the army, it was the death of one of his sons that was subsequently registered through the army.   Alan’s life was short, but his memory lives on in the family.  He is forever young.

                                 
                                         

                                           Captain  A. G. Paddock                                                         Taukkyan War Cemetery, Burma. (Myanmar)

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