EDWARD GEORGE 'Ted' BROOM was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset in 1912, the first of 8 children to Benjamin and Jeannette Broom. He was a strong character and, as his family recall, was not above settling arguments with fisticuffs; such as the times when he was home on leave, while recovering from his wounds received in Sicily, when he had several arguments with American service personnel in the public houses in Lyme Regis. 'Ted' also had a kind side to his nature and his sister, Peggy, remembers when he gave her first wrist watch for her 16th birthday. Peggy married a Canadian serviceman during the war and later emigrated to Vancouver, Canada.

His first job was as a footman in a big house on the outskirts of Lyme Regis, where his mother was in service as a maid. An independent man, he decided to seek adventure elsewhere and he joined the Dorset Regiment on the 13th January 1931, aged 18. He was sent to India, after training, and spent the next 7 years in the country. He returned to the UK in 1938 and was on the reserve list until the outbreak of war in 1939.

When he was called up for service he spent the next 4 years on Malta. In 1943 he was sent to Egypt with the Dorset Regiment and there they trained for the invasion of Sicily. He was wounded during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and was evacuated back to the United Kingdom. Private EDWARD GEORGE BROOM rejoined the Dorset Regiment ready for the invasion of north west Europe in 1944. He survived the initial landings but was killed on the 11th June near the village of Tilly-sur-Seulles.¹

Private EDWARD GEORGE BROOM now rests next to the war poet Captain KEITH CASTELLAIN DOUGLAS in TILLY-SUR-SEULLES War Cemetery.