73332, Captain, 17th Field Regiment. Royal Artillery.
Killed in Action on the 18th January 1943 aged 28.
Captain Charles William Roy Oddie
The son of Thomas & Frances Oddie who lived at Tower Lodge, Stevenage. Charles was educated at Alleynes Grammar School where he later became Head Boy and Captain of Boxing.
When he first left school he was employed at Halls bank in Fleet Street, London but he soon left there to join the Army. Charles was a career soldier who had trained for four years in the Honourable Artillery Company and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1937. He had fought in France and was amongst the last troops to be evacuated from Dunkirk. He served in West Africa and was later posted to serve with the 1st Army in the Middle East.
On the 18th January 1943 his Regiment was at Bou Arada near Medjez El Bab in North Africa when an assault took place by a large force of enemy tanks. Charles was in a forward Observation Post when it was hit by shellfire from one of the tanks.
He is buried in the Massicault War Cemetery, Tunisia. (3.N.19.)
Headstone Inscription: "The Strife Is O'er The Battle Won"