The Scottish War Memorials Project

john burnett · Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 483 Location: Fife

UKNIWM 44831 Location on side of St Fillan's Church Hall, Main Street, Aberdour. OS ref NT 190850

spoons · Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:04 pm Post subject: VictoriaCross

KEYES, Geoffrey Charles Tasker
Lieutenant Colonel. Royal Scots Grays, (2nd Dragoons), Royal Armoured Corps.
London Gazetted on 19th June 1942.
Born on 18th May 1917 at Aberdour, Fifeshire, Scotland.
Killed in action on 18th November, 1941 at Beda Littoria, Libya.
Memorial on grave at Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, Benghazi, Libya and at St James' Cemetery, Dover, Kent.
Digest of Citation for Victoria Cross reads:
On 17th/18th November, 1941 at Beda Littoria, Libya, Lieutenant Colonel Keyes commanding a detachment* of a force which had landed 250 miles behind enemy lines, led his men, without guides, in dangerous and precipitous country to attack a house which was believed to be General Rommel's headquarters. When they reach their objective, Colonel Keyes took one officer and one NCO with him and, having evaded the guards and dealt with the sentry, dashing into the first room they came to, killed all the occupants. Rushing into the second room, the occupants were the first to open fire and Colonel Keyes was mortally wounded.
* Consisting of Lieutenant Colonel Keyes, Captain Campbell and 17 other ranks of Scottish Commando.
Additional information: lieutenant Colonel Keyes also held the Military Cross (MC).

Adam Brown · Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:43 pm Post subject:

Lt Col Keyes VC was lost on Operation Flipper. A detailed description of the Operation can be found here.

http://www.combinedops.com/Operation%20Flipper.htm

It includes a photgraph of his grave.

Keyes would have been well known to Winston Churchill since his father and Churchill were old friends.

He is also commemorated along with his father in St Paul's Cathedral and Tinglewick Church, Buckinghamshire

http://www.tingewickchurch.org.uk/history.htm

Adam