Arnhem Parachute Regiment

Discussion in 'Airborne' started by james_19742000, Dec 8, 2013.

  1. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hi Jennifer,

    If thats the case then this might be another member of the family:

    Name: John R Cooke
    Mother's Maiden Surname: Groutage
    Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1925
    Registration district: Walsall
    Inferred County: Staffordshire
    Volume Number: 6b
    Page Number: 1236

    As in my previous post it is common for the mothers maiden name to be the same as the child, and not as this one above. Perhaps if the father registers the birth then the surname stays the same.

    TD

    Edited to add:
    Cannot find any family trees that include John R Cooke (1925)

    Correction - there are some (3) private family trees that probably include him
     
  2. Jennifer65

    Jennifer65 Member

    Hi TD

    Yes it certainly is, at the time of Dennis's birth I assume that Granddad registered the birth, Gran died in 1924 and Granddad remarried a month later so John's Mum would officially have a Maiden name in 1925.

    I haven't been on Ancestry for a while, I decided on a break after researching on and off since 2004, but I will look into that. many thanks for the information.
    I have been given such a wealth of information on this forum and I am extremely grateful to members for helping me so very much, I would still be floundering about otherwise.

    Many thanks
    Kind regards

    Jennifer
     
  3. horsapassenger

    horsapassenger Senior Member

    Jennifer

    Thanks for posting the cutting - very interesting. Heber Cooke was 13 Platoon, B Company, South Staffords and, as you say, they came in on the first lift. They had an exciting time getting to Arnhem as , when moving to Manston on 5th September, their glider crashed on take-off. Luckily there were no injuries. Jimmy Usher was a Machine Gunner with T Company 1 Para but I'm afraid that, at present, I can find no references to John Selvey. If he came in on the 2nd lift he would have been a member of the 4th Parachute Brigade. However after Arnhem, due to the losses that the three Parachute battalions of this Brigade had sustained, these Parachute Battalions were disbanded and their survivors spread amongst the Battalions of the 1st Parachute Brigade.

    John
     
  4. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hi Jennifer

    Glad/hope the info is of use especially if you need it to obtain his service records

    Happy hunting
    TD
     
  5. Jennifer65

    Jennifer65 Member

    Hi John

    That is a lot of information that I didn't know, wow, thank you so much. As for him crashing, it seemed to be the story of his life as you can see from the news clipping he went into the sea on the way to Sicily the year before and survived, someone was certainly watching over him. He was a lovely gentle man.
    As for John, I was going to add his name to the roll call on Paradata but they also couldn't find him, which is a shame, he couldn't remember his service number but he was on one photo from Paradata with his unit (which I ordered for him) and remembered several of the men on there, his only vivid memory was of Jimmy Usher and his eternal gratitude for him being there to see him through. Sadly I am no longer in touch with him as he moved from the area to be closer to his son, although I get the occasional updates from another member of the British Legion.
    Thank you so very much, it never ceases to amaze me the information the Senior members can provide.

    My very grateful thanks
    Kind regards

    Jennifer
     
  6. Jennifer65

    Jennifer65 Member

    Hi TD

    It is very useful to me, thank you for taking the time to research it, I am very grateful.

    With what John has provided as well I can go to National archives and look at the war diaries.

    I did go down there last year for my cousin, Joe Cooke's daughter as she was only three when he died and couldn't remember him although she has been to his grave several times in France and also found that he was seriously wounded at Caen and was taken to a German hospital where he died from his wounds and is buried at Le Man. And copied the war diaries from his unit. Joe's widow married again later on to a former Chindit.

    I will try and find out if Heb's son has his service records and if not I will send for them.

    Thank you so very much

    Kind regards

    Jennifer
     
  7. Edward Ions

    Edward Ions Member

    Do you have access to the parachute training records from www2???
     
  8. jw28

    jw28 New Member

    Hi
    A little late to the forum maybe, but I'm very glad I found it!
    I have been doing some research recently into the life and career of James Ussher (Jimmy) of the 1st Parachute Battalion, on behalf of my mum to explore a family connection. I was frankly amazed and excited to see his name mentioned here the way it was in a post by Jennifer65.
    What we would really love now is to be able to identify him in a photograph. I have been in touch with Sam at Paradata and he has been very helpful. There are several group photos of his battalion, but my mum isn't 100% sure she can identify him.
    I was wondering that if he maybe was in the same photo that was ordered on behalf of John Selvey, whether anyone could positively identify Jimmy from that as well. If you could let me know which photo it was I would be very grateful. There is a photo of the MMG platoon in 1946, and T company 1Para in Italy 1943, was wondering if it would be either of these photos, or one of the earlier larger group ones. I'm not too sure what he did after the war or when he left the army, but he later emigrated to New Zealand and sadly passed away there in 2003 aged 88.

    thank you very much
    Jenny
     

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