THE MASSACRE AT LE PARADIS - HELL IN PARADISE - MAY1940.
  • Home
  • Background
  • The Surrenders
  • The Massacre
    • Massacre Overview
    • The Massacre In Depth
  • The Norfolks
  • The Royal Scots
  • Victims
    • Burials
    • Burial Register
  • O'Callaghan Index
    • Bill's Story >
      • Bill's Diary Part One
      • Bill's Diary Part Two
      • Bill's Diary Part Three
      • Bill's Diary Part Four
      • Bill's Diary Part Five
      • Bill's Diary Part Six
      • Bill's Diary Part Seven
      • Bill's Diary Part Eight
      • Affadavit
      • Bill Medal
      • Bill's Timeline
  • Pooley Index
    • Bert Pooley Cross Exam
    • Bert Pooley's Affidavit
    • Bert In The Press
  • Fritz Knoechlein
    • Fritz Knoechlein
    • The Charge
    • The Trial Overview
    • Knoechlein's Defence
    • Knoechlein's Statement
    • Knoechlein on the Cage
    • Knoechlein documents
  • The People
  • Pilgrimages
    • Pre-2000 Pilgrimages
    • 2010 Pilgrimage
    • 2011 Pilgrimage
    • 2013 Pilgrimage
    • 2015 Pilgrimage
    • 2017 Pilgrimage
    • 2018 Pilgrimage
    • 2018 Pilgrimage Photos
    • 2019 Pilgrimage
    • Dunkirk Veterans
  • Memorials and Museum
    • Memorials
    • British Memorial
    • Memorial Launch
    • Memorial Support Form
    • Le Paradis Museum
  • Dereham
    • Dereham Service
  • Le Paradis
    • Le Paradis History
    • Memorials
    • Pilgrimages
    • Le Paradis Museum
    • Burials
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • Miscellaneous Documents and Articles
      • Launch
      • Maps and Diagrams
      • About The Site
      • Press Cuttings
      • Press/Film and Photographs
      • The Massacre on Film
      • School Work
      • Coming Events
      • They Wrote About The Massacre
      • Site Index
      • Minutes
      • Photographs
      • What's New
      • Links
      • Poppies
      • dunkirk missing
    • Burial Register
  • The Trial
    • The Charge
    • The Trial Overview
    • Trial Description
    • German Reports
    • Cross Examination
    • The Evidence
    • The Crime
    • The Investigation
  • The Places
    • Dereham
    • Le Paradis
    • London cage
    • Sheffield POW Camp
    • Creton Family
  • Sources
  • Special Articles
    • First Hand Accounts
    • Dunkirk - The Rearguard Action
    • Totenkopf
    • Denial
    • Missing
  • Contact Us
  • Diaries

Private David Kay

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
PRIVATE 5776375 DAVID ALFRED KAY
Royal Norfolk Regiment 2nd Battalion
Died 15th May, 1940, Aged 21.
Buried at Wavre Communal Cemetery, Belgium


On 15th May, 1940, Lieutenant Willeson reported to Captain Long that a Bren Gunner on an AA mounting had successfully shot down a Messerschmidt (other documents record a Stuka) which had then dived onto the men of Barratt's Platoon which was working on the defences.

On the same day and during the same action, Private David Kay was killed while trying to rescue a colleague from a weapons' pit who had been injured by a shell. Another shell came in the same place, wounding two more men including Private Kay. Private Kay was injured so severely that he died within a few minutes. He was the first Second Battalion Royal Norfolk soldier to fall following Hitler's Radio Code Danzig to start the invasion of the Low Countries on 10th May, 1940.

​Private Kay was buried close to where he fell before being re-interred at Wavre Communal Cemetery (pictured below).

The following details are taken from the records of Captain Charles Long and used with the kind permission of the Long family and re-written by John Head.


Prior to reinternment in Wavre Communal Cemetery, Private David Kay was buried on the fringes of a wood known as Bois de Beaumont. The service was attended by Capt. Charles Long, the Commanding Officer of ‘C’ Company (later to become Adjutant during the Campaign) and the whole of the platoon Private Kay was assigned to.

Captain Long led a shortened service and his platoon came to attention giving Private Kay a final salute. To afford Private Kay a volley of shots or a bugle would have given away the Battalion's position to the enemy which would have also been the last thing Private Kay would have wanted.

Private Kay was the son of Gordon F. and Nora O. R. Kay of Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich. The personal grave inscription reads: "Age Shall Not Weary nor the Years Condemn."

Picture
Photograph by John Head
Proudly powered by Weebly