The North Somerset Yeomanry, Royal Corps of Signals, Service no. 2347555
Born: 15th January 1913. Son of Fred Tasker and Alethea Bennett
Died: 4th December 1942, aged 29
Story
Herbert was the only child of Fred Tasker and Alethea Bennett, and until the war, they lived at 89 Sandgate Terrace. Herbert was educated at Kippax Council School and then Woodhouse Technical School. He was a former choirboy at Kippax Parish Church, and was popular in Kippax. After leaving school he worked as a fitter at Kitson’s, Leeds, then as a Dairyman for Kippax Co-op. At the outbreak of War, Herbert married Elizabeth Lucy Ann Gray, moved to the High Street, and then joined the Services. His new wife moved to York, taking up an appointment, while Herbert served abroad in North Africa
Tobruk was strategically important in order to gain control of Eastern Libya. Initially in Italian hands, the city was captured by British, Australian and Indian forces on 22nd January 1941. Tobruk was re-taken by Rommel in an outflanking attack on 21st June 1942, when the Germans captured the largest number of British troops after the fall of Singapore. Tobruk remained in German hands until 11th November 1942, when the Allies re-captured it after the Second Battle of El Alamein. Corporal Tasker was subsequently killed during one of Rommel’s unsuccessful attempts to re-take Tobruk. Herbert’s wife was the first to be informed that her husband had been killed in January 1943, and a memorial service was held for him in Kippax in January 1944. Herbert is buried in Tobruk War Cemetery, 1. G. 5, and is also remembered on the grave of his grandparents, and parents in Kippax, and the Co-Op memorial plaque. The epitaph on his War grave reads: “HE LIES WITH BRITAIN’S HEROES IN THE WATCHFUL CARE OF GOD. LOVING WIFE LUCY.”
Kippax Roll of Honour 