PARAS England, John Kay

[John Robertson]

• SURNAME

England ​

• FORENAME

John Kay ​

• UNIT

8 Bn (HQ - Intelligence Officer) (Royal Armoured Corps,attached) ​

• RANK

Lieutenant ​

• NUMBER

255222 ​

• DATE OF DEATH

24th March 1945 ​

• AGE

22 ​

• GRAVESITE

Reichswald Forest War Cemetery,Germany 37.C.6 ​

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

born Birmingham​

son of Edward Arthur and Marion McCulloch England,Great Yarmouth,Norfolk​

award M.B.E.​

KIA Germany ​

​

Lieutenant England took part in the Rhine Crossing on the 24th March 1945, and was killed when a Horsa glider crashed into the wood where Battalion Headquarters were assembling. Also killed were both glider pilots and two 8th Battalion sergeants; the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Hewetson, was injured. His death was subsequently reported in this newspaper article:​

​

Lieutenant John Kay England, Parachute Regt., the 22-year-old only son of Mr. and Mrs. England, of School House, Hemsby, has been killed during the fighting in Germany. He was educated at Yarmouth Grammar School, where he was awarded the Ferrier Prize for keeness, and in July, 1940, joined the King's Cross branch of the Westminster Bank and before volunteering in August, 1941, for a young soldiers' tank battalion, he had passed the first part of the Bankers Institute examination. He received his commission through Sandhurst, in December, 1942, and after service with the Border Regiment, volunteered in October, 1943, for paratroop training.​

​

Lieut. England jumped with his battalion on the night before "D" day and was ambushed and taken prisoner the next day while on a solo patrol. He spent a month in a German prison camp before escaping by jumping from a moving train while on the way to Germany. After a month walking by night through France, he reached the American lines.​

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After a period of leave, Lieut. England went as intelligence officer with the 6th Airborne Division to the Ardennes when Rundstedt made his drive, and among the prisoner he interrogated was a German sergeant major paratrooper who took part in the rescue of Mussolini. He crossed the Rhine with his battalion, and news of his death was received shortly afterwards.​

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Lieut. England had decided to make the Army his career and was gazetted in the Regular Army in January. He was a member of Albert Lodge of Freemasons.​