Royal Navy
Born: 27th April 1918.
Story
Kenneth was the son of Job Henry Thompson (1886-1964) and Agnes Sarah Cox (1885-1969) who married in Kippax on 15th October 1913. Before the War, Kenneth worked as a French Polisher, and lived with his parents and siblings at 46 Mount Pleasant.
Kenneth served on H.M.S. Aurora (pictured below) during the War. It was reported on 22nd May 1942 that he had returned on leave to his wife and young son at Duke Street, Whitwood Mere, and had already experienced blitzes in England and Malta, and was on the Aurora when she “made a mess” of an enemy convoy in the Mediterranean in December 1941.
At the end of the War, Kenneth was immensely proud to be given a record of his three years of service on the Aurora. Receiving the document, he said his most outstanding memory of his time in service was coming to within a few hundred miles of the North Pole, when he was in Spitzbergen, Norway, to destroy a German plant and its installations. He recalled that the air was like wine. He also had a vivid memory of the Aurora guarding a harbour, and two hostile destroyers tried to escape but were sunk. “It was just ‘Bang, bang’ for us” was his comment on the incident. Whilst he served on the Aurora, Kenneth covered 111,391 miles and fired 4,453 rounds from its main armament.
Interviewed in July 1960, after the death of Vice-Admiral Sir William Gladstone Agnew, under whom Kenneth served, Kenneth added that the Aurora was known to the Italians as “the silver phantom” and had done her bit to bring the Second World War to a successful conclusion.
Kenneth passed away in 1997.
Kippax Roll of Honour 