Captain Keith Douglas
Captain Keith Douglas
Captain Keith Douglas was born on 24 January 1920 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. He had a difficult childhood. His father had won the Military Cross during the First World War but struggled during the interwar years to earn a living and his mother suffered from sleeping sickness. Eventually his parents divorced. Living with his mother in virtual poverty, Keith secured a place at Christ’s Hospital School near Horsham and while there his remarkable poetic talents were recognised. He went on to study at Merton College Oxford and was tutored by the First World War poet and literary advisor to the War Graves Commission, Edmund Blunden.
Headstone of Keith Douglas
Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, he volunteered for service and fought in North Africa and Normandy with the Nottinghamshire (Sherwood Rangers) Yeomanry, a tank unit. A veteran of many battles he volunteered to carry the wooden crosses on his tank used by the Army Graves units, something that most tank crews consider bad luck. He was killed by mortar fire on 9 June while on reconnaissance near Audrieu, just north of Tilly-sur-Seulles. He was 24 years old.
Today, Keith is buried in Plot I. Row E. Grave 2. Upon his headstone are inscribed words chosen by his mother, ‘Poet, Artist, Phil. IV.8. These things he loved, He died in their defence’
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