Joseph Houghton was the son of Arthur Blundell Johnson Houghton and Leila Mary Battersby Houghton, of Knightsbridge, London.  He served in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and No. 2 Commando, and took part in Operation Chariot at St Nazaire, being one of the few to return from that raid.

He later took part in Operation Musketoon, being landed from the Free French submarine JUNON on 15 September 1942.  The objective was to destroy the Glomfjord power plant, South of Narvik, which supplied an aluminium plant in the area. The raid was a success however he was captured along with seven of his party, taken Prisoner of War and was executed on 23 October 1942 at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp under Hitler’s recent “Commando Execution Order”. 

Joseph Houghton is commemorated on the Brookwood (1939 – 1945) Memorial, Panel 14. Column 2.