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The Second World War - Day by Day.

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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945



Remembering those who died this day.

  • Ball William . Sgt. (d.12th Feb 1943)
  • Cassey Colin. (d.20th Jan 1944 )
  • Charlton. Herbert P D . Sgt. (d.9th Oct 1943)
  • Copeland Thomas Donovan . F/O (d.11th March 1944)
  • Crofts Thomas. Pte. (d.20th January 1944)
  • Dean A P. Sgt
  • Doe L H . Sgt (d.20th Jan 1944 )
  • Gnius M. P/O. (d.20th Jan 1944)
  • Gnius Mike. F/O. (d.20th Jan 1944)
  • Heron Angus Brown.
  • Hutt. Geoffrey . P/O (d.18th Mar 1944 )
  • Inrig Benjamin. Pte. (d.20th January 1944)
  • Johnston Donald Charles. P/O. (d.20th Jan 1944)
  • Jones. William . P/O. (d.11th March 1944)
  • Marceau. Henri Bernard . F/O
  • McCarthy Leonard James. Flt.Sgt. (d.20 Jan 1944)
  • McGregor. R E . Sgt (d.20th Feb 1944)
  • Mortimer Don. P/O
  • Murray. . F/O (d.20th Feb 1944 )
  • Sleighter. Joseph S . P/O (d.18th Mar 1944)
  • Southwood G T . Sgt

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List



The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements



  • The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web.
  • 28th March 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263784 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
  • Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's
  • The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.
    If you enjoy this site

    please consider making a donation.


Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text.



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Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home.

If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion
Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.



Want to know more about the 20th of January 1944?


There are:21 items tagged 20th of January 1944 available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.




Stories from 20th January 1944





P/O James Snowsell. Royal Canadian Air Force, 434 Sqd..

P/O James Snowsell was my father. He was shot down on the Berlin ops on the 20th of January 1944 and was taken pow, along with P/O Wilf Kipp, the only two survivors, of the crash, Dad survived the war but had contracted TB along with ongoing bouts with asthma, I felt he never really got over the war. Died in 1957, at 42. Very unfortunately I never really got to know him.

The crew were:

  • F/O C.S.Brest
  • Sgt J.R.Morgan
  • P/O W.M.Kipp
  • P/O J.Snowsell
  • Sgt L.H.Doe
  • P/O M.Gnius
  • Sgt H.B.Hill

Kenneth Snowsell



F/O. Mike Gnius. Royal Canadian Air Force, 434 (Bluenose) Squadron . (d.20th Jan 1944)

Mike Gnius flew 6 missions in a Halifax; 5 as Middle Upper Air Gunner and 1 as Rear Air Gunner. On November 18, 1943 during an operation against Ludwigshafen, the aircraft was attacked by an FW 190. Rear Gunner Hill and MU/AG Gnius fired and F/O Brest took evasive action. F/O Brest and P/O Gnius were interviewed the following day and their account of the fight and flight back to base on 3 engines and an inoperable rear turret was reported in the Canadian Press. Also mentioned in the article were Wilf Kipp, James Snowsell and Jack Morgan.

Teresa Kindrachuk



P/O. Donald Charles Johnston. Royal Air Force, 7 Squadron. (d.20th Jan 1944)

Donald Johnston was my uncle and my mother (his sister) named me after him. Unfortunately I know very little about him other than he was aged just 20 at the time of his death in January 1944. I would like to find our more about him.

Donald Harper



Pte. Benjamin Inrig. British Army, 6th Btn. Seaforth Highlanders. (d.20th January 1944)

Ben Inrig was the uncle of a friend of mine who thought that Ben had been killed in Sicily. In the event, I checked with CWGC records and discovered he had been killed on 20th January 1944 during involvement in the Garigliano crossing, and that he was buried in the Minturno cemetery. We visited the grave together and being in the locality I visited again some years later. I would like to have had more details of his death but this seems to be not possible.

My own father was killed in action serving with The Duke of Wellington's Regiment at Anzio.

Robert Hanson



Flt.Sgt. Leonard James "Macca" McCarthy. Royal Australian Air Force, 76 Squadron RAF. (d.20 Jan 1944)

Macca was a prewar friend of my mother. He was a tail gunner of Halifax V LK921 shot down south west of Berlin during a raid on that city. The entire crew were killed and are buried at the CWG cemetery in Berlin

Graham Dutton



Pte. Thomas Crofts. British Army, 1st Btn. York and Lancaster Regiment. (d.20th January 1944)

Whilst researching my grandfathers history I discovered I had a great uncle called Tom Crofts, who was killed in action on 20th of January 1944 and is buried at Minturno War Cemetery in Italy.

My grandfather, Private George Tolmie, 1/5th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, was also killed in action at the Second Battle of Kemmel Ridge on the 25th July 1918. After the end of WW1 Georges widow, Elsie, married again to a James Crofts from Sheffield. James was Tom's brother. They went on to have three children, my mother Marion and two sons, Jim and Reg, hence the family connection. Jim was hit in the back by a piece of shrapnel at Dunkirk, was rescued and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He was serving in The Black Watch. Reg served in the Recce Regiment landed on D Day +1 and went right through to Berlin without a scratch.

John Illingworth










Can you help us to add to our records?

The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them


Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area?

If so please let us know.

Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.




Celebrate your own Family History

Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.

Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.














The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.

The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

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