STORY
The story and photographs are shared by the Trust with kind permission from Sydney's nephew, Neil Aldridge.
Uncle Syd was born on the 30th November 1923 at 2 Millbank Cottages, in Headcorn, Kent.
His parents were Fred and Ethel Aldridge, and he had one brother (my father Ronald) and two sisters, my aunts ‘Ting’ and Violet.
Left to right - Sydney, Ron, 'Ting' and Vi Aldridge, taken in the 1930s.
On 17 September 1942 he was called up and posted to the 9th Battalion the Royal West Kent Regiment, The Buffs, and he then undertook his small arms training at Shorncliffe Barracks at Folkestone. Uncle Syd was transferred to the 7th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry on the 2nd October 1943.