In Memory of
WALTON, HENRY ELAND
76459, 6th Bn.
Durham Light Infantry
Captain
who died age 25
on 10th July 1943
Remembered with honour
SYRACUSE WAR CEMETERY, SICILY
Son of Frederick Walton and of Olive Walton (nee Richardson), of Witton-le-Wear, Co. Durham.
On 10 July 1943, the sea was very rough as 6th DLI splashed ashore in Sicily Captain Henry Eland Walton was in command of C Company during the initial landings Walton was reportedly hit in the stomach and was last seen by his men singing The Blaydon Races as he was washed away his body was later recovered and lies at rest in Syracuse Military Cemetery. He was 25 years old. Born in Witton le Wear, County Durham, in 1918, Henry Eland Walton had been commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 6th (Territorial) Battalion DLI in 1938 his father, Colonel Frederick Walton, had commanded the same battalion during the first world war.
Lieutenant ffrench Kehoe took command of C Company and using mines he had borrowed from the sappers blew holes in the barbed wire realising the company had been landed in the wrong place he quickly moved his company and elements of 'A' Company off in the direction of Avola.
