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780932 58 Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery.
Thomas Johnson was born in Sudbury around 1910 and he lived at 20 Girling Street, Sudbury. Before the outbreak of war Thomas was employed at Bruntons Ltd. and was a Sergeant for several years in the Territorial Army.
The Drill Hall was based in Gainsborough Street, and members came from Haverhill every week to join the Sudbury men to train. At the outbreak of war the Territorials were called up immediately. The men from Haverhill were billeted in Friars Street before they and the Sudbury men embarked for France. They used the ground floor rooms of No.16-17 Gainsborough Street (opposite the Drill Hall) for cooking and washing.
On 2nd December 1939 Thomas was married by special licence to Phyllis Mabel Brewster at Glemsford Parish Church. They had a son and the family lived in Angel Lane, Glemsford.
Thomas survived the evacuation of Dunkirk and was later sent to North Africa in 1942 serving with the Eighth Army. His brother-in-law Corporal R C Brewster served with the 5th Battalion Suffolk Regiment and was a prisoner of war of the Japanese from February 1941 until his release in 1945.
Thomas was killed on 8th May 1943 when a jammed gun exploded, killing him and 3 others nearest to it. Thomas was aged 33. He lies buried in a grave alongside the other 3 casualties in Massicault Cemetery, Tunisia.
Bombardier Cyril (Jim) Johnson, also a Sudbury man but no relation to Thomas was one of the 4 men killed in the same explosion.
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