Lynn, Thomas Alexander (Alex)
Corporal
No. 3856376, 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders
Killed in action on Wednesday 23 August 1944 (aged 25)
Buried:
St. Desir War Cemetery, France (Grave V. F. 12)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Colebrooke Parish Church of Ireland Church War Memorial
Fivemiletown and District War Memorial (2018)
BIOGRAPHY
In the CWGC Debt of Honour website it is recorded that Corporal Thomas Alexander Lynn was a son of Samuel and Isabella Lynn of Dundonald, Co Down.
In the 7 September 1944 edition of the Impartial Reporter newspaper there is a death notice for Corporal Lynn:
LYNN – Thomas Alexander, Corporal, Gordon Highlanders, killed in action, August 1944, in Northwest Europe, eldest son of Samuel and Isabella Lynn, Greengraves, Newtownards, formerly Tattynuckle, Fivemiletown. Deeply regretted by his sorrowing father, mother, brothers and little sister.
‘Many and brave, his young life he gave.’
Thomas Alexander Lynn was born on 8 December 1918 in the townland of Derrintoney, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, and he was a son of Samuel Alexander Lynn and Isabella Jane Lynn (nee Gillespie) who were married on 1 August 1918 in Colebrooke Church of Ireland Church, Lisnaskea. Samuel Lynn (aged 20), a labourer from Derrintoney, was a son of John Lynn, a labourer. Isabella Gillespie (aged 15) from Cavanaleck, was a daughter of Thomas Gillespie, a tailor. Her father gave his consent for the marriage to take place.
Samuel Alexander Lynn and Isabella Jane Lynn (nee Gillespie) had at least four children:
Thomas Alexander (born 8 December 1918 in the townland of Derrintoney)
John James (born 8 February 1921 in the townland of Derrintoney)
David (born 24 April 1923)
Daughter (per newspaper death notice)
In 1938 Alex moved to England seeking work, and in 1940 the Lynn family moved to Newtownards.
After the outbreak of war Alex was serving with the British Expeditionary Force in France and was evacuated from the beaches in Dunkirk in 1940. He was then posted to North Africa and served at Tobruk. Corporal Thomas Alexander Lynn went on to serve in the invasion of Normandy and was killed in action on 23 August 1944.
Corporal Lynn’s uncle (his mother’s brother), Fusilier William Gillespie (No. 7263226), Royal Army Medical Corps was killed on 25 May 1940 (aged 22), during the retreat to Dunkirk.
His uncle, Samuel Gillespie, served with the Corps of Royal Signals. Seven of the Gillespie brothers served in the British Army.