He left instructions that upon his death his remains should be cremated
and he should have no grave. There is no monument to his memory,
but a plaque on the wall of the ruined Six Bells public house in the
Welsh village of Gilfach-goch commemorates him and his association with
the area, said to be the inspiration for his novel "How Green Was My
Valley" (1940).
He did for some time work as a coal miner, but his claims that he was born in Wales to a Welsh miner were proved (after his death) to be entirely false.
He served in the army between 1926-32 in India and Hong Kong. After publication of his first, and best known, novel "How Green Was My Valley" in 1939 he served again but spent most the war at Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey.
His first few jobs indicated a career in catering: washing pots at Claridge's in London, aged 15, and spending a year working as a waiter in Italy.