John Merrick Rudge was born in Dublin in 1920 where his father Captain Leonard Merrick Rudge MC, MM, was stationed with the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.

His mother was Lilian Maud Rudge (nee King) who was born in Oxford.  His grandparents, James and Martha King, lived in Thame but his parents, on his father leaving the army, settled near Manchester.

After working as a commercial traveller, living in Stony Stratford, Bucks, he enlisted with the Royal Corps of Signals during WW2 and soon after married Patricia Mary Morris in 1943.

In 1949 he was posted to Hong Kong with 30 Royal Signals, 27 Independent Infantry Brigade HQ, travelling on the troopship Halladale., And in September 1950, the Brigade was the first British army contingent to land in Korea.

Corporal Rudge was killed in Korea on the 27th October 1950 serving with the 30 Royal Signals HQ 27 Brigade. At that time the brigade was engaged in the Battle on Chongju.

2273949 Corporal J M Rudge, Royal Corps of Signals is buried in Busan UN cemetery in South Korea.  He is remembered on his grandmother’s gravestone in the cemetery at St Mary’s in Thame.