WW2 British Coldstream Guards KIA Grouping

A poignant grouping of items relating to Guardsman 2664443 William Morton who served with the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards & was Killed In Action In Italy on 4th October 1944 aged 28.
Group comprises :

* Pair of embroidered Coldstream Guards shoulder titles
* Brass cap badge
* A 2/4/41 dated coloured card from CG HQ in
Birdcage Walk, London informing family & friends
that he is now serving in the Coldstream Guards.
* A squad photograph from depot
* A photograph of him apparently in his back garden
* Photograph of his grave in Italy
* Medal Entitlement Slip
* Medals including Italy Star

Buried in Faenza War Cemetery the photograph of his grave is stamped by the Graves Registration Authority CMF & marekd to FAENZA British Empire Cemetery. Following the fall of Rome to the Allies in June 1944, the German retreat became ordered and successive stands were made on a series of defensive lines. In the northern Appenine mountains the last of these, the Gothic Line, was breached by the Allies during the Autumn campaign and the front inched forward as far as Ravenna in the Adratic sector, but with divisions transferred to support the new offensive in France, and the Germans dug in to a number of key defensive positions, the advance stalled as winter set in.
The war cemetery at Faenza was formed during these months for the burial of those who were killed in the static fighting before the Allied advance was renewed in April 1945.

Code: 14225