Private Leslie Denis Lyndon Browne
South Staffordshire Regiment, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, 4925985
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1st quarter 1909
Place of Birth: East Preston, Sussex
Date of Death: 9th of July 1943, aged 34
Buried: Syracuse War Cemetery, Sicily. Cemetery/memorial reference: III. H. 14.
Awarded the 1939-45 Star, and the War Medal 1939-1945
Son of Denis and Ethel Beatrice Browne, of Shaldon, Devon.
July 1943: The South Staffordshire Regiment, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion took part in the invasion of Sicily by air and suffered heavy casualties.
Operation Husky
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major campaign of WW2, in which the Allies took the island of Sicily from the Axis powers (Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It began with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign, and initiated the Italian Campaign.
Part of the huge invasion fleet on the way to Sicily, Italy July 1943 © IWM A 17976
To divert some of their forces to other areas, the Allies engaged in several deception operations, the most famous and successful of which was Operation Mincemeat.
Husky began on the night of 9th and 10th of July 1943 and ended on the 17th of August. Strategically, Husky achieved the goals set out for it by Allied planners, the Allies drove Axis air, land and naval forces from the island and the Mediterranean sea lanes were opened for Allied merchant ships for the first time since 1941.
Private Leslie Denis Lyndon Browne Commemorative Certificate
