Ernest enlisted in the 1st Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment, which served with the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1939–40, returning after Dunkirk with heavy losses. In 1943 the battalion was sent to North Africa and took part in the final stages of the Tunisian Campaign, including fierce fighting at Peter’s Corner and Cactus Farm.
Ernest was killed in action on 29 April 1943 and was buried as an “unknown British Soldier”. Initially reported missing, his remains were identified the following year, and he was reinterred at Massicault Military Cemetery, Tunisia.
His headstone bears the words chosen by his parents:
MANY A LONELY HEARTACHE OFTEN A SILENT TEAR FOR ONE WE LOVED SO DEAR
