Forename: Cecil Derrick
Surname: Steel
Rank: Private
Regiment: Gloucestershire Regiment
Institution: St Paul’s Practising School
Cecil Derrick Steel was born on 3 September 1922. He lived at 14 Swindon Road with his parents Anthony and Gladys. He attended St Paul’s Practising School from September 1929 – September 1937, and later worked at Dowty.
Cecil volunteered to join the 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment as a Private in 1940 and travelled to India in 1942. He took part in the campaign to drive Japanese forces out of Burma and was severely wounded in the face and eyes in September 1944. He was transferred to hospital in South Africa where he contracted pulmonary tuberculosis. Cecil died on 28 April 1946 at the age of 24. He is buried at Johannesburg (West Park) Cemetery.