Source: Leicestershire War Memorials Project.
Reginald Herbert Gamble was born on the 28th May 1918 at 46, Livingstone Street, Leicester. He was the ninth child of Joseph Gamble and his wife Susannah Jane, nee Allaway.

On the 8th December 1939, having taken an oath of allegiance, Reg joined the army at Leicester. He was duly posted to the Coldstream Guards Depot at Caterham. On the 6th March 1940 he joined the Guards Training Battalion, and was eventually passed A-1 - fit for service at home and overseas.

Whilst home on leave, on the 29th June 1940, Reg married Vera Elizabeth Ball at Holy Apostles Church, Leicester. Her parents were Ernest William and Annie Ball, the couple moved to 29, Balmoral Drive, Braunstone.

After the couple’s marriage Reg returned to the regiment and on the 29th July 1940 he joined the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.

Prior to joining the army Reg had worked for the Post Office in Leicester and had the experience of driving motor vehicles. This perhaps fitted him for training as a driver of armoured fighting vehicles. On the 17th August 1943 Reg passed a driver mechanic’s test and was mustered as a tank driver.

Reg landed in France with the 1st Armoured Battalion Coldstream Guards on the 1st July 1944. The battalion concentrated at a place called Esquay-Sur-Seulles, two miles east of Bayeux. Fighting then ensued around Caen and in the Bocage of France. On the 30th August the battalion pushed towards the Somme. On the 3rd September Reg and his fellow guardsmen witnessed the jubilation of the crowds as the battalion’s tanks entered Brussels. There followed the drive into Holland. On the 24th September, with the battalion at the Maas River, Reg was appointed Lance Corporal, over a month later relinquishing the stripe at his own request. On the 12th November 1944 the battalion was ordered to take a quiet part of the line, near Sittard. The battalion’s squadrons were assembled near Wehr, Jabeek and Hillensberg, and whilst there they came under spasmodic shelling.

Reg’s life was taken on the 19th November 1944, as a shell or mortar round fell near his tank. He was buried at Sittard. His body was later removed to Venray War Cemetery and placed in Plot VI, Row G, Grave 9. By the end of the month Reg’s brothers and sisters and his wife Vera, who was living with her parents at 3, Duncan Road, Leicester, had learnt of their loss.

Vera placed a notice in the Leicester Mercury it read:

GAMBLE, Reg (Coldstream Guards) - In ever proud and loving memory of my darling, killed in action Nov., 1944. From his broken hearted wife Vera.

At the foot of his gravestone is inscribed:
“Oh Valiant Heart”
I shall remember until
the time of all forgetting. Vera.
--------------
Submitted by M. Gamble 2016