Moosa Aswayita - Ferocious Fighter
No.1649552, Sergeant (Flight Engineer), James Harrison PARROTT
Aged 19
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James Harrison Parrott was born in Brandon in 1924 (Thetford Q2-1924 4B:507), son of Ernest James Harrison and Lucy Margaret PARROTT (née HOLMES),
In the 1939 register his widowed mother [2-2-1889] was housekeeper at "Glenfarg", Thetford Road, Brandon, for Walter W.K. McGRADY [6-6-1874] a retired provisions merchant. McGrady has been crossed through and LAMONT added. There is one closed record. His father had died in 1937. |
click here to go to the ww2.brandonatwar.co.uk website for more information
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419 (R.C.A.F.) Squadron, the third overseas Canadian Air Force bomber squadron, was formed at Mildenhall on 15th December 1941. Handley Page Halifax Mk II, ser.no. JP119, c/sign VR-O was one of 14 aircraft of 419 squadron to take part in a 677 bomber attack on industrial targets in Berlin. 46 aircraft were lost in total. Taking off from Middleton St George at 23:35, the crew were on their 12th mission when JP119 was lost. On the previous mission the aerial had been shot away possibly by flak, as the aircraft has been reported to have had flak damage on that mission. The crew had reported seeing flares being dropped by enemy a number of night fighters,so that also could have been the cause of the loss of the aerial, which caused them to miss the message diverting them to the alternate target. VR-O crashed around 03.20 hours at Zuhlem, about 22 miles north-west of Berlin. German records show that JP119 was shot down at approximately 03.00 hrs, crashing on the Glienicke-Zuhlen road, near Neuruppin (about 50 miles NW of Berlin). The crew were interned in a collective grave, and when the grave was exhumed for reburial in June 1947 only six of the crew could be positively be identified. F/O Gibson was 2nd Pilot on JP119 on the night it was lost, he was not a regular member of the crew. The crew consisted of:- Pilot - P/O Henry Palmer [RCAF]; 2nd pilot - F/O Stanwill Gibson [RCAF]; navigator - F/O Fred Forrest [RCAF]; Flight Engineer - Sgt James Parrott [RAFVR]; Air Gunner - P/O Evan Milner [RCAF]; Air Gunner - P/O Robert Tarbet [RCAF]; Wireless Operator - Sgt Francis Reilly [RAFVR]; Bomb Aimer - F/O George Lemmerick [RCAF] |
photo of James courtesy Robert Carman...headstone -Darren Norton
photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details