Gunner JAMES ARTHUR KIMBER

James, the third child of James, a blacksmith, and Grace Kimber, was born in Basingstoke in February 1906.  By 1911 the family had moved to Nately Scures^[1].  In 1932 James married Grace Maiden in Hartley Wintney District^[2].  By the time of the 1939 Register the couple were living at 48 Salmons Field in Odiham with their two children. James is recorded as a General Labourer and Grace as a housewife.

The Royal Artillery Museum has provided a little information on James’s war service.  He enlisted in 1940 and at the time of his death was in the Royal Artillery 232 S/L Trg Regt, which was based in Devizes.  This was a Royal Artillery training establishment.  It was here that James appears to have had an accident from which he subsequently died on 26 February 1941.  He was buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission section of Odiham Cemetery. He would have been awarded the War Medal 1939-1945 and the 1939-45 Star.