Nugent, Patrick Edmund Charles (No. 176733)

Nugent, Patrick Edmund Charles (Patrick)

Lieutenant

No. 176733, 5th Battalion, Grenadier Guards

Killed in action on Tuesday 27 April 1943 (aged 22)

Buried:

Massicault War Cemetery, Tunisia (Grave V. K. 8)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Ballyphilip Parish Church of Ireland Church, Portaferry

Eton College

Brother of Lieutenant John Andrew Nugent (No. 307920)

BIOGRAPHY

During the Second World War two Nugent brothers served with the 5th Battalion, Grenadier Guards which was raised in 1941, served in North Africa and Italy and disbanded in 1945.

Patrick Edmund Charles Nugent was the first of the two brothers to die.

Patrick Edmund Charles Nugent was born on 4 November 1920 and he was a son of Major the Right Honourable Sir Roland Thomas Nugent, Kt., JP, DL and Lady Cynthia Maud Nugent (nee Ramsden) of Portaferry House, Portaferry, Co. Down.  They were married on 25 September 1917 and had three children:

Elizabeth Anne (born 10 March 1919)

Patrick Edmund Charles (born 4 November 1920)

John Andrew (born 1 September 1925)

Sir Roland Nugent held several different offices including Minister without Portfolio in the Northern Ireland Government and Leader of the Northern Ireland Senate.  He died on 18 August 1962.

Patrick Edmund Charles Nugent was educated at Eton College.  He joined the Grenadier Guards and was killed in action on 27 April 1943 during the Allied offensive on Axis positions in Tunisia, as the Allies prepared for the final drive towards Tunis.  The war in North Africa came to an end in May 1943 with the defeat of the Axis forces.  Lieutenant Patrick Nugent was initially reported as Missing in Action and it was some time before his body was recovered.  Identified by means of his identity disc, he was buried in Massicault War Cemetery and there is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:

FORTIS ATQUE FIDELIS

This inscription means Strong and Faithful.

Lieutenant Patrick Edmund Charles Nugent was 22 when he died and he is commemorated in Ballyphilip Parish Church of Ireland Church, Portaferry and in Eton College.