Philip was born on 3 April 1914 in Islington, London to Latvia born father Lazarus and Manchester born mother Jenny Brodie and he had two younger sisters Alice and Mary. In 1921, the family lived at 10 Liverpool Road, Islington from where Lazarus ran a stationers shop until his death in 1929. Jenny remained at the address after her husband’s death and by 1939 it had changed to a tobacconist shop.

In April 1939, Philip married Lily Rose Lasky and at the time of the 1939 Register, they were living in the next road to his mother at 78 Islington High Street, where they were also running a tobacconist shop. Later that year Philip was conscripted and joined the 4th Battalion of the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment). After training at Kempston Barracks, Philip was shipped in July 1941, just after the birth of his daughter Mavis, from Liverpool to Gibraltar and then on to Malta. He endured Malta’s siege and its shortages, and was tasked with guarding the island against the expected invasion, filling in bomb holes on the airfields, constructing blast pens to protect the aircraft and unloading bomb damaged ships. By September 1943, the German army in North Africa was in full retreat and the threat of invasion faded.

Philip’s battalion were then transferred to Alexandria where they were given leave. This was cut short, when the 4th Buffs, on October 23 1943 were rushed to Alexandria docks and boarded two destroyers. Philip and ‘A’ Company were on the E-Class Fleet Destroyer, ‘Eclipse’. They were being sent to the island of Leros to bolster their defences-the neighbouring island of Kos having already fallen to the Germans. At around midnight, the ‘Eclipse’ hit and detonated a mine, just off Kos; the destroyer broke in two and sank within three minutes. Off the 200 Buffs on board, 135 died including Philip, along with another 135 naval personnel. Michael Greisman.