We have added a number of local men to our research who were involved in the Normandy Landings, also known as D-Day which occurred on 6th June 1944 and the fight which began on that day continued for a long time afterward until the war was eventually won. It was a huge turning point in the war.
Our main D-Day page
Private. 2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment (Duke of York’s Own) Service number 4351524.
Early life:
Clifford was born on 5th November 1923, his birth being registered in Keighley. His parents were Clifford Milnes and Mary Milnes née Conley who had been married in Keighley in the last quarter of 1920. Clifford had several siblings and the ones we are sure about were Frank, Nora and James, who were all younger than Clifford.
We could not find a family record in the 1921 census, but we assume they were living in Keighley.
In the 1939 Register (taken on 29th September,) Clifford was aged 15 and employed as a setter at a woollen mill. He was living at 156, Guard House Road in Keighley with his parents Clifford and Mary both aged 38, and siblings Frank aged 12, Nora aged 8 and James aged 5. Also living with them was their grandfather Abraham Milnes aged 61. Both Abraham and their father Clifford were stone sawyers.
Clifford was in the Air Training Corps and had taken up boxing, which he was very good at. He represented the Keighley ATC and on Friday 25th April 1941, he won the Northern Counties flyweight championship in 1941. He would have been aged 17 at the time.
His boxing title was reported in the Yorkshire (Bradford) Observer:
The Yorkshire Observer, Saturday 26th April 1941:
SALTAIRE BOXING
Clifford Milnes, member of the Keighley Air Training Corps, won the Northern Counties flyweight championship at an amateur boxing tournament last night, held at Saltaire Institute, Shipley, by the Bradford City and Bradford West Riding Special Constabularies.
Results:-
Northern Counties Fly-weight Championship. – Semi-final: Clifford Milnes Keighley A.T.C.) beat M. Carey (Birkenhead, N. Gilfoyle (Birkenhead) beat K. Hunter (Keighley ATC) Final: Milnes beat Gilfoyle.
Other Contests-Lance-Corporal Lovell beat Gunner Bromberg. Corporal Parr beat Private Viggers. Air Cadet Watson beat Sergeant Clark. Lance-Corporal Ping beat Gunner Williams. Sapper Maplestone beat Private Burn. Sapper Waterstone beat Lance-Corporal Naughton.
He was employed by TRICO in Keighley before enlisting during the war. They were established in Keighley in the 1890s and their name comes from the initial letters of ‘The Rustless Iron Company’ They are still very much a going concern, although they have since moved their production to the Castlefields industrial estate near Bingley and become TRICO VE Ltd.
War service:
Clifford would have been aged 18 when he enlisted in the Army in 1942, serving with the 2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment. He was part of the first wave of the invasion, landing on Sword Beach (Queen Red) on D-Day, the 6th June 1944. He was killed in action during that time.
There seems to have been some confusion though, as he was reported wounded and being treated in a base hospital in July 1944. It’s likely that with the confusion expected of a major invasion such as the Normandy Landings, that some men were reported in hospital when in fact they had been killed in action.
The Keighley News, 22nd July 1944:
LOCAL ROLL OF HONOUR. ACTIVE SERVICE CASUALTIES.
Mrs. Milnes, of 156, Guard House Road, Keighley, has been informed that her son, Private Clifford Milnes, aged 20, serving in the East Yorkshire Regiment, has been wounded and is in a base hospital. He has been in the Army two years, and before joining up worked at Trico Works, Keighley. When 17 years of age he won a Northern Counties Championship for boxing, and he has also boxed for the Keighley A.T.C. His father, who is also in the Army, is abroad in South East Asia. Private Milnes was educated at St. Anne’s School, Keighley.
Clifford’s father also served in the Army but he survived the war. He was awarded several WW2 service medals which were the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He also seems to have been awarded the Mercantile Marine Medal. These were sent to him at his home address of 156, Guardhouse Road, Keighley on 18th April 1956. His service number was 927056.
We did not find any medal records for his son Clifford.
Clifford was buried in grave number 3 of row D in plot 9 of the Hermanville War Cemetery, which is just one and a half miles from Sword Beach (Queen Red) which is where the 2nd Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment landed on D-Day.
Post war:
His name is on the Army Roll of Honour and he is also named on Keighley’s Second World War Memorial panel, which is on the wall in Keighley Library, near to the main entrance.
His mother Mary died aged 66 in the second quarter of the year 1968, registered in the Worth Valley.
His father Clifford died aged 77 in the third quarter of the year 1978, registered in Keighley.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007.
1939 England and Wales Register.
British Newspaper Archive.
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library.
Keighley War Scrapbook at Keighley Library.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
WO304, War Office: Roll of Honour, Second World War. (National Archives.)
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
British Army World War II Medal Cards, 1939-1945. (Forces War Records.)
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
