Corporal JOHN WILLIAM PARKER

Serviceman Headstone thumbnail image Serviceman grave marker Serviceman thumbnail
Rank Corporal
Forenames JOHN WILLIAM
Surname PARKER
Initials J W
Place of Birth Unknown
Date of Birth Unknown
Date of Death Wednesday, 07 June 1944
Age 34
Nationality British
Residence or Entered Service From DURHAM, COUNTY DURHAM, UNITED KINGDOM
Service Number 3651896
Force British Army
Service/Corps/Regiment Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps
Unit / Ship / Battalion / Squadron 13 Parachute Battalion (6th Airborne Division)
Military Honours and Awards
Place of Burial/Commemoration RANVILLE CHURCHYARD
Roll of honour
Grave/Memorial Location Grave 24.
Previous Place(s) of Burial Unknown
Epitaph
Family Details SON OF WILLIAM AND ANNIE PARKER; HUSBAND OF DOROTHY L. PARKER, OF TOTTON, HAMPSHIRE.

Additional Information

Corporal JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, seving with 'C' Company, 13 Parachute Battalion, died on the 7th June 1944, 1 month before his daughter was born in the United Kingdom.

 

The circumstance of his death were recalled by his his friend Private Ronald Minnery, who was serving with the Intelligence Platoon with 13 Parachute Battalion:

 

The day after D-Day my friend Corporal John Parker, 'C' Company, was killed. He was in a slit trench by a wall at the crossroads and a piece of shrapnel from a mortar attack hit him in the head, it went straight through his helmet.1

 

Corporal JOHN WILLIAM PARKER was buried in Ranville Churchyard, where he rest today alongside 45 other identified men who were killed. Ranville Church itself was used as a temporary aid post on D-Day, and later an Advanced Dressing Station, by 225 Parachute Field Ambulance while 13 Parachute battalion battled to take liberate and hold the village.2

 

Corporal John William Parker, undated.3

 

 

References
1. from 13 - Lucky For Some The History of the 13th(Lancashire) Parachute Battalion, p.173. Privately published in 2013, first edition, by Andrew Woolhouse.
2. Pegasus Bridge & Horsa Bridge. pp.148-151. Published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd 1999 - 2011, 4th edition, by Carl Shilleto.
3. Photograph kindly provided by Jason Palmer, grandson of Corporal John William Parker.

 

Acknowledgements and Credits
Source of original data: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Headstone photograph: Carl Shilleto
Cross marker photograph:  
Individual photograph: Jason Palmer, grandson of Corporal John William Parker.
Additional photographs provided by:  
Additional information provided by: Carl Shilleto, Andrew Woolhouse & Jason Palmer, grandson of Corporal John William Parker.

 

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