Gordon Mann
Royal Norfolk regiment
Private 1st Battalion the Royal Norfolk Regiment
Service No: 5784253
Killed in Action 16th October 1944 at Overloon, Holland aged 21
The Gordonstoun memorial lists Gordon’s death at Arnhem on 16 Sep 1944. In fact he was killed a month later near Overloon, 20 km south of Arnhem, probably in a platoon strength night action attacking a farm at the Molen Beek.
As part of Operation Market Garden British airborne forces had been defeated at the Arnhem bridge over the River Rhine. The advance therefore stopped south of the lower Rhine resulting in a narrow salient that ran from the north of Belgium to Nijmegen.
German forces attacked this salient from a bridgehead near Venlo. The Allies decided to counter-attack from the north by Operation Aintree and for this they had to capture Overloon paving the way for a future advance into the nearby Rhineland. 1 Norfolks were involved in this operation.
Gordon is buried in a CWGC site at Overloon war cemetery, Noord-Brabant, row III B 3. He was awarded the 1939-45 Star and the war Medal 1939-45:
Background Information
Gordon’s parents were John Cayley and Theodora Mann, of Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire. He attended Gordonstoun during the war when it was at Plas Dinam, in Wales, where he was a keen rugby player.
