Ronald Maurice Trodd: A Chichester Soldier of the Italian Campaign

Early Life and Family

Ronald Maurice Trodd was born at Chichester, Sussex, on 14 April 1923, the son of Ernest Stewart Trodd and Ellen Mary “Nellie” Goldfinch. His birth was registered in the Chichester district during the second quarter of 1923. [1]

Only limited civilian information has so far been identified for Ronald. The available record places him in Sussex in 1941, by which time he was eighteen and Britain had been at war for nearly two years. He did not marry and left no recorded children. [1]

His parents remained closely associated with Chichester, and the later family memorial notice confirms the enduring nature of their loss. In October 1948, five years after Ronald’s death, the Chichester Observer published their remembrance of “our dear son Ronald Maurice”, demonstrating that his absence remained keenly felt long after the fighting had moved on. [1]

Ronald Maurice Trodd was twenty years old when he died of wounds in Italy, shortly after his battalion entered the campaign.

Military Service

Private Ronald Maurice Trodd served in the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), with service number 6410137. He was posted to the regiment’s 6th Battalion, a wartime infantry battalion that served in North Africa, Sicily and Italy as part of the 78th Infantry Division. [2][3][1]

His campaign-medal entitlement comprised the 1939–1945 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star and War Medal 1939–1945. These awards confirm that his wartime service extended beyond Italy and included the North African theatre, before the battalion’s subsequent operations in Sicily and the Italian mainland. [1]

The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a county infantry regiment with its depot at Maidstone. During the Second World War, its regular, Territorial and wartime-raised battalions served in several theatres, while the 6th Battalion became one of the regiment’s most active formations in the Mediterranean. [4]

The 6th Battalion

The 6th Battalion belonged to the 36th Infantry Brigade. In June 1942, the brigade joined the newly formed 78th “Battleaxe” Division, which was assembled for offensive operations in North Africa. The division’s distinctive battleaxe insignia later became widely recognised through its service in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy. [3][2][1]

With the 78th Division, the 6th Royal West Kents landed in North Africa during Operation Torch in November 1942 and fought in the campaign that ended with the surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia in May 1943. The battalion then participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily, including operations around Adrano in August 1943. [5][2][4]

The battalion’s function was that of front-line infantry: to advance, seize and hold ground, patrol, mount attacks, resist counter-attacks and operate in close co-operation with artillery, engineers, armour and supporting services. By 1943, the men of the 6th Battalion had already experienced the difficult terrain, heat, exhaustion and sustained combat of the North African and Sicilian campaigns. [2][3]

On 24 September 1943, the 6th Battalion landed at Taranto in southern Italy with the 78th Division. The landing followed the Allied invasion of mainland Italy earlier that month and marked the beginning of a new campaign whose mountainous terrain, damaged roads, rivers and determined German rearguards would make every advance slow and costly. [2][1]

Italy in October 1943

Private Trodd died during the opening weeks of the 78th Division’s Italian campaign. By 5 October, the division was moving northwards following its landing at Taranto, as Allied armies pressed up the Adriatic side of Italy. The 6th Royal West Kents were part of the advance, facing difficult movement conditions and the continuing threat of German resistance. [6][2][1]

The wider Italian campaign was not a single battle but a succession of advances across rugged country divided by rivers and defended by well-sited German positions. During the autumn of 1943, Allied troops fought to secure the Adriatic route northwards, while German forces used the landscape to delay and inflict casualties on the advancing formations. [7][6]

Ronald’s death preceded the 78th Division’s later fighting at the Moro River, Monte Cassino, the Gothic Line and the final offensive in Italy. Nevertheless, his burial near Ortona associates him with the theatre in which the division and the Canadian Corps would later endure some of the campaign’s most demanding operations. [2][1]

It is important not to place Ronald in the Battle of Ortona itself. That battle took place in December 1943, two months after his death. The Moro River Canadian War Cemetery was established afterwards and became the final resting place for many Commonwealth servicemen who fell in the wider Adriatic campaign, including those who died before the Moro River fighting. [1]

Ronald Trodd died during the first weeks of the 78th Division’s advance in Italy, before the hard-fought Moro River and Ortona battles for which the area is now remembered.

Circumstances of Death

Private Ronald Maurice Trodd died of wounds in Italy on 5 October 1943, aged twenty. His service record identifies him as a member of the 6th Battalion, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, and his casualty commemoration confirms that he died during active service in the Italian theatre. [1]

The available evidence does not identify the specific incident in which he was wounded, the place at which it occurred, or the medical unit in which he died. It would therefore be wrong to assign his death to a named engagement without supporting documentary evidence. What is certain is that he was wounded during the early advance in Italy and did not survive. [1]

His parents’ memorial notice in the Chichester Observer of 2 October 1948 stated: “In loving memory of our dear son Ronald Maurice, R.W.K. Regt., who died of wounds October 5, 1943, in Italy.” It included the familiar words, “At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” [1]

Burial and Commemoration

Ronald is buried in Moro River Canadian War Cemetery, near Ortona in the Abruzzo region of Italy, in grave XIII.C.21. The cemetery stands at San Donato, approximately five kilometres south of Ortona, on high ground near the Adriatic coast. [1]

The cemetery was selected by the Canadian Corps in January 1944 to receive burials from the Battle of Ortona and nearby operations. It contains 1,615 Commonwealth graves, more than 1,375 of them Canadian, reflecting the central part played by Canadian troops in the Moro River and Ortona fighting. [1]

Ronald’s commemorative record is also preserved by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and by a Find a Grave memorial. His medals and the newspaper notice together ensure that the young soldier from Chichester is remembered both through official records and through the words chosen by his parents. [1]

Legacy

Ronald Maurice Trodd’s story is that of a young Sussex man whose adult life was almost entirely shaped by war. Born in Chichester in 1923, he served in the Mediterranean campaigns of North Africa, Sicily and Italy before dying of wounds at the age of twenty. [1]

His service with the 6th Royal West Kents connected him to the distinguished record of the 78th Division. The battalion’s journey from North Africa to Sicily and then Italy exemplifies the wide geographical reach of Britain’s wartime army and the relentless movement demanded of infantry soldiers during the Mediterranean campaigns. [3][2]

Although he left no wife or children, Ronald was not forgotten. His parents’ newspaper tribute, his grave at Moro River Canadian War Cemetery and his Commonwealth War Graves Commission record preserve his name. They also provide a lasting link between Chichester and the Italian landscape in which he died in October 1943. [1]

Sources and Further Reading

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Private Ronald Maurice Trodd.
• Find a Grave: Private Ronald Maurice Trodd, Memorial 55914399.
• National Army Museum: The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
• National Army Museum Collection: 6th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment, at Adrano, Sicily, 1943.
• Wartime Memories Project: 6th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment.
• CWGC: Moro River Canadian War Cemetery.
• Ancestry: Army Roll of Honour and memorial records cited in the individual report.
• Queen’s Royal Surreys: The Italian campaign and 78th Division.

Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Ronald-Maurice-Trodd.pdf https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/141549598/3fb1adf6-ec1f-416f-9d6b-4f862f29ac56/Individual-Report-for-Ronald-Maurice-Trodd.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Checksum-Mode=ENABLED&X-Amz-Credential=ASIA2F3EMEYEYDH2IDNG%2F20261005%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20261005T193629Z&X-Amz-Expires=889&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEBsaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJGMEQCIE3ze0RhZRWi%2FExrEUuTjEw13LAfYYX%2BTvxLOrhS8evQAiAk8yf0m8VqAHS2dlZQrDdz5YXYYZBbIf8FFkOtaoCpKiqJBQjk%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F8BEAEaDDY5OTc1MzMwOTcwNSIMQLnMVUGmCO8TnEtCKt0EgIxBoi6XoBN47KDcPTCGHjKQY4rEsmukVy202Rd%2F9iCwVoyKbE2emO6dnWEMPKv4L24VqHGeg6wbnA06mapeUoSBJhe1OAeDo2TvkyY%2BLX2TzGnaNe2pW%2FKh8mrFbh5DebvBvd6mxPiJeKGoyybI5oen0wnPUhupa0XYhhFGUMjxfUCe6LX%2FX5bNio%2FGPCoisZxnzV1i%2FXYGDs3P7pAxQosfh%2BlkfgQzeB5iPodb%2F1Xdrvjcz0ZF9qNiI54f1MCclEhxAOFrRdwDv%2BB1%2FmoE%2F0Flwjkh83883kjc%2BGqlbD%2Bgdh3WPmgLmR4KGHkujQwpodlE0TWhUePkx7jaDw%2BcN8Avjeq5g3bk5gbgPY9pItyumMMgBSc72ozkR3FMDk0%2FqbDNVglUjE39VIMTyCciWNdLkvt84tTFWLge%2BXoxh46vEc1KIm2JFslHukBcTkTiBd7zEREQuCNAHATCrwlcxeVLkaHv6TDzRHk2Ep2NgYLLjkxM49LL8OegK4Qum5ptrOgj7IF6BDxmsZejercVAd4XQrNW0%2BQFQWIir%2BJyT8YTW6DfEBJRp8AX3E%2BgoLHu8nBEJb65MHf%2FayAi28vBShxBY8ecmATjxKow8Nsf9MYXdroDi1Z6y4XgqDesq8CM6Oc71dyhlEXFsYp3o7BQKb5JRGrAXjr6nko3vL91%2BjtaOKrCQ5sreavOCqyfS%2FDwoQwXjm4fXiICIZJ64YglOaqTFa2QtgfH0IHiHzIDErZMhhjRyjLMfIEydo87GI86qzFgc%2ByjiMWTpliYLPEKnH6Vi7cbl2NpCL9ZTxYw4%2BOP1gY6mQEgb3QAo9RXm1OU1CWIQVOMe3wvQkNw3sFuWc9akRIkuduoSAc%2FjNw04NmTOB6mIg%2FmheXLLe4G8JQqECsa8Ht3cyqqz39W%2FPV7%2B1uD2TFeGqq9waH3yXiIpBYWZ%2BRMYvyqx9OCfC1j0Cwdio4WBS3pYl9Nds5CPdly89So2penMP5xOTbi8Ocb3aPxI%2F2QgC7Aj9KpGZBdb1A%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-id=GetObject&X-Amz-Signature=bb3495202ae4ad3f9c3e7c01627b5aa42c1391bf305fd2cde452d1b882d0ab55
[2] Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen’s_Own_Royal_West_Kent_Regiment
[3] Royal West Kent Regiment (Queens own) https://wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/allied/battalion.php?pid=1418
[4] The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment | National Army Museum https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/queens-own-royal-west-kent-regiment
[5] The 6th Battalion, West Kent Regiment, patrolling a damaged area … https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1999-03-88-40
[6] Italian Campaign 78th Division, 7th Armoured Division https://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/ww2/italy/78th-7th-armoured-56th-divisions.html
[7] [PDF] The Canadians in Italy, 1943–1945 – Canada.ca https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/themes/defence/caf/militaryhistory/dhh/official/book-1956-army-ww2-2-en.pdf
[8] 6th Bn, Royal West Kent in Italy – WW2Talk https://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/6th-bn-royal-west-kent-in-italy.60157/
[9] British Army Officers 1939-1945 — T – Unit Histories https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_T01.html
[10] Operation Devon, Termoli 1943: ‘A catalogue of errors’? – jstor https://www.jstor.org/stable/27370213
[11] [PDF] World War II Army Enlistment Records – AWS https://nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com/arcmedia/electronic-records/rg-064/asnf/100.1CL_SD.pdf
[12] Royal west kent regiment Stock Photos and Images – Alamy https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/royal-west-kent-regiment.html?pseudoid=E98A3F29-F822-435F-8508-0914982CC449
[13] The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) – The Long, Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/the-queens-own-royal-west-kent-regiment/