6019500 Pte Natale Avitabile, Essex Regt

6019500 Private Natale Avitabile of the Essex Regiment (battalion unknown), died in England on the 20th December 1941. He was 24 years old, the son of Juan and Mary Avitabile, and the husband of Rita May Avitabile of Dagenham. He is buried in Barking's Rippleside Cemetery.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (UK Army Roll of Honour 1939-1945)
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

6025396 Pte Edward Thomas Walker, 2/5th Bn, Essex Regt

6025396 Private Edward Thomas Walker of the 2/5th Battalion, Essex Regiment, died on the 7th November 1941. He was 28 years old, the son of James and Elizabeth Walker, and the husband of Lucy Walker of Shoeburyness, Essex. He is buried in the Suez War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (UK Army Roll of Honour 1939-1945)
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

6016185 Pte Eric Goodwin, Essex Regt

6016185 Private Eric Goodwin of the Essex Regiment died on the 2nd November 1944. He was 25 years old, the son of John and Bertha Goodwin of Saffron Walden, Essex. He is buried in Padua War Cemetery in Italy.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (UK Army Roll of Honour 1939-1945)
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

50950 Capt Henry J K Genders, Essex Regt

50950 Captain Henry Joshua Kingstone Genders of the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment, died on the 26th August 1940, aged 32. He was born in South Africa and was the son of Son of Major William Henry and Gertrude Maud Genders of Port Isaac, Cornwall. Henr Genders has no known grave and is commemorated on panel 2 of the Khartoum Memorial in the Sudan. Image courtesy of CWGC.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Sources:
Ancestry (UK Army Roll of Honour 1939-1945)
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

6021326 Pte Robert Carrigan, 5th Bn, Essex Regt

6021326 Private Robert Carrigan of the 5th Battalion, Essex Regiment, died on the 24th December 1943. He was 27 years old and is buried in the Sangro River War Cemetery in Italy.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (1939-1945 Roll of Honour)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

6016373 Sgt Percy Harold Fidgett, 2/5th Bn, Essex Regt

6016373 Sergeant Percy Harold Fidgett of the 2/5th Battalion, the Essex Regiment, died on the 7th November 1941. He is buried in the Suez War memorial Cemetery in Egypt. This from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

"Suez was an important hospital centre during the First World War with two Indian general hospitals, two stationary hospitals and casualty clearing stations based there at various times. Initially, burials took place in a special plot in the Protestant cemetery but the War Memorial Cemetery was established nearby in 1918 and these graves were transferred there, together with some from other burial grounds. Later, the adjoining Arabian Indian Cemetery was also absorbed into it. The Second World War burials were from the large garrison based in and around Suez. There are now 513 Commonwealth casualties of the First World War and 377 from the Second World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery. A few, known to have been buried here or elsewhere but whose graves could not be located, are commemorated by special memorial. The cemetery also contains war graves of other nationalities and non war graves. The graves of those in the original Arabian Indian Cemetery are not marked by headstones, their names are recorded on Screen Wall panels in front of the burials."

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (1939-1945 Roll of Honour)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

6008980 Pte Percival Frederick Charles Mapes, 1st Bn, Essex Regiment

6008980 Private Percival Frederick Charles Mapes of the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment, died on the 6th November 1940. He was the son of Frederick Charles and Elizabeth Sarah Mapes of Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, and was 26 years old when he died. He is buried in the Keren War Cemetery in Eritrea. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has this to say about the cemetery:

"Keren was the last Italian stronghold in Eritrea and the scene of the most decisive battle of the war in East Africa in February and March 1941. Guarding the entrance from the western plains to the Eritrean plateau, the only road passing through a deep gorge with precipitous and well fortified mountains on either side, Keren formed a perfect defensive position. On these heights the Italians concentrated some 23,000 riflemen, together with a large number of well sited guns and mortars. A preliminary assault by United Kingdom and Indian troops was repulsed after a week of bitter fighting, although they gained and held a valuable position on Cameron's Ridge, on the left of the road. The final battle began a month later. After ten days of gruelling combat the Commonwealth troops succeeded in forcing their way through the seemingly impregnable defences on the ridge and finally through the 200 metre long road block which the Italians had blasted at the narrowest point in the pass. Keren was taken on 27 March. The defeated Italian force retreated in some disarray to Asmara, which fell to Commonwealth forces on 1 April, and the Italian surrender was taken at the port of Massawa on 8 April. KEREN WAR CEMETERY contains 440 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 35 of them unidentified. The KEREN CREMATION MEMORIAL stands within the cemetery and commemorates 285 Sikh and Hindu soldiers from India and Pakistan killed on the Keren battlefield during the Second World War, whose remains were cremated in accordance with their faith. Three East African soldiers are also commemorated on the memorial."

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (1939-1945 Roll of Honour)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission

14618128 Pte Stanley Lenard Maurice Parsley, 2nd Bn, Essex Regt

14618128 Private Stanley Lenard Maurice Parsley of the 2nd Battalion, Essex Regiment died on the 21st October 1944. He was 23 years old and the son of Thomas Walter and Florence Maud Parsley of Waltham Abbey, Essex.

Stanley Parsley is buried in Brussels Town Cemetery. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that, "Most of the Second World War casualties buried in the town cemetery died on lines of communication duties after the liberation of Brussels at the beginning of September 1944, but a few date from the brief period that the BEF spent in Belgium in May 1940."

The War Graves Photographic Project has a photo of Stanley's grave.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (1939-1945 Roll of Honour)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The War Graves Photographic Project