Private Tom Payne
2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment 5617558
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1st quarter 1911
Place of Birth: Dawlish, Devon
Date of Death: 3rd of April 1942, aged 30
Buried: Pembroke Military Cemetery, Malta Coll. grave 1. 4. 21.
Awarded the 1939-45 Star and the War Medal 1939-1945
Son of Thomas and Eliza Payne and husband of Ivy May Payne nee Shorland of Dawlish, Devon.
Tom Payne was born in the 1st quarter of 1911 which was registered at Newton Abbot.
Tom married Ivy May Shorland in the 1st quarter of 1930.
2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment
The 2nd Battalion for the duration of the war was part of 231st Infantry Brigade and fought in Malta, Sicily, and Italy.
On Saturday the 21st of March 1942, an air raid on Ta' Qali Airfield at 10 am resulted in many bombs missing their target and landing on 90 British General Hospital Mtarfa. Seven soldiers of D Coy 1st/Durham Light Infantry, who were asleep after guarding German prisoners at night, were killed in the raids.
Bomb damage in Malta. April 1942, damage to HMS St Angelo © IWM A 9638
A second bomb demolished the Mtarfa Club hut, a third fell near the reception block close to a slit trench. Two patients in G Block were injured and an ambulance destroyed.
The bombing reached a crescendo in April 1942, when 7,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the island.
Private Tom Payne 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment 5617558
