Captain, Royal Sussex Regiment
Born: June 3rd 1918
Died: March 26th 1944
Age at Death: 25
Killed in action in Burma, March 26th 1944
Dennis Peirce was a local boy, born on 3 June 1918 in Brighton to Mabel and Richard Peirce, an architect and surveyor. He attended Brighton College for three years from 1932. In 1940 he married Joan, an auxiliary nurse. A son, Richard, was born in 1942.
In 1940 Peirce joined the Royal Sussex Regiment’s new 9th Battalion, known as the Shiny Ninth, based in Britain. There was a severe shortage of military equipment because the army’s British Expeditionary Force had left much of it behind when evacuated from Dunkirk, but a deal was done with the local RAF fighter station: six bottles of whisky were exchanged for 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
In October 1942 the Shiny Ninth departed Portsmouth for India. By March 1944 the 9th Battalion had entered Burma and advanced to Teknaf on the banks of the Naf River. It was given orders to cross the river and attack two tunnels, where the Japanese had constructed three forts. On 26 March the battalion’s B Company launched its assault and reached its objective, the Western Tunnel. Soon it was under heavy attack from the Japanese, and there were many casualties. Lieutenant Peirce and his platoon tried, but failed, to climb the steep slope, so instead had to cross the entrance of the tunnel, which was covered by heavy enemy fire, to reach the top. During this attempt, Peirce and seven other men were killed, with one more later dying of his wounds. Lieutenant Peirce is buried in Taukkyan War Cemetery in Myanmar (Burma).