Kenneth Moore
Officer who led his men in a charge through blazing bush
KENNETH MOORE, who has died aged 97, won an MC in Burma in 1944 while serving with the Nigeria Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force.
In February 1944 Moore, a platoon commander in the 4th Battalion The Nigeria Regiment (4 NR), part of 81 (West Africa) Division, was taking part in the divisional advance down the Kaladan Valley. It was an arduous campaign against tough Japanese troops in some of the most difficult mountain jungle in the country.
Early in the month, while under heavy machine-gun fire, Moore rescued a wounded officer of 1 Sierra Leone Regiment. Three weeks later he led a night compass march over hilly terrain to reach his objective. The next morning, when his platoon was attacked in strength, he grabbed a Bren gun and led 30 men in a bayonet charge through bush that had been set on fire by the enemy. They drove the Japanese off the hill. Moore was wounded but refused all help until his casualties had been safely evacuated.
In April his platoon had to cross open paddy fields swept with machine-gun fire to get to grips with the Japanese. Before driving them off a hill feature, he led his men in a charge through burning scrub. Many of them suffered severe burns as the attack went in. His courage and outstanding leadership over many months were recognised by the award of an MC.
Kenneth Geoffrey Moore was born at Higher Broughton in Salford, Lancashire, on June 26 1922 and educated at William Hulme’s Grammar School. He left school at 16 to work in a firm of bacon importers. A year later he joined the TA. He was mobilised in August 1939 and commissioned into the Border Regiment in 1942.
In May 1943 Moore disembarked from his troopship at Lagos and was seconded to 4 NR. After three months’ jungle training in India he went by ship to Chittagong to join 15 Corps, 14th Army. In early December his battalion led the division into Burma and he was in action against the Japanese until February 1945. After demobilising the West African troops, he returned to England in early 1946.
In July that year he joined Mercantile Credit Company (MCC) in Manchester before moving to Newcastle-upontyne as branch manager and then to Darlington as general manager of the Dunelm Trust, a subsidiary company. During those 17 years he joined the Manchester Regiment (TA Bn) and then the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (Reserve Bn).
In 1968 he became local director for the south west of England and south Wales. He joined Barclays International in 1981 and became chief executive officer and deputy chairman of the National Industrial Trust, based in Nairobi in Kenya but also covering Tanzania and Uganda. He retired from MCC in 1984, after 38 years’ service.
His time in Kenya was the highlight of his working life and he took many fine photographs of animals on safari. He and Rene, his wife, also visited Japan for an international Diners Club conference. He used to suffer nightmares and flashbacks from the ferocious fighting in the Burma campaign and meeting Japanese people on this visit helped to put some of these problems to rest.
In retirement, in a village in Somerset, he was an active member of his community. His family and friends remember his kindness, modesty, encouragement and support. For nearly 60 years he was a member of Rotary and, in 2015 he attended the 70th anniversary of V-J Day in London.
Kenneth Moore married, in 1948, Irene “Rene” Stringfellow; she survives him with their daughter. A son predeceased him.
Kenneth Moore, born June 26 1922, died February 10 2020