Acting Leading Stoker Samuel Henry Palmer MID.. Royal Navy HMS Rorqual from 17 Worboys Road, Worcester My Father was desperate to join the forces during the Second World War, his two elder brothers Walter and Harold were already serving in the Royal Navy and the Fleet Air Arm, respectively. His Father Frank was also serving with the Royal Engineers, having been called up again, because of his intimate mapping knowledge of Northern France and Belgium, experience gained from the First World War, which he somehow survived, including the dreaded Battles of the Somme and Passchendale. My Gran was left with two daughters at home, she thanked her lucky stars when they all arrived home safe at the end of the war, having lost a brother in the First World War.
Dad trained at Chatham and was assigned to HMS Rorqual, a mine-laying sub, eventually becoming Acting Leading Stoker. He was 6’3” tall, rather tall for the cramped conditions on board a sub and used to sling his hammock between the pistons to give himself a bit of extra space. He told me about one occasion when they were submerged and being hunted by a German sub, the Captain stopped the engines, absolute silence was called for, in case the sonar picked up any noise. Dad was playing cards with a few other crew members when one of them panicked and started screaming in fear, so Dad stood up and knocked him out, as it was endangering them all.
On another occasion he was berthed in Trincomalee, on the island of Ceylon, (now known as Sri Lanka) and to his delight found both his brothers were there too, the first time they had seen each other since the start of the war. As you can imagine there was a joyous celebration on board that night, all empty bottles were loaded into an empty torpedo tube and finally jettisoned into the harbour, next morning!
He was also awarded an oak leaf for bravery and mentioned in dispatches; the mine-laying rails didn’t always function efficiently, one dropped off the rear of the sub only to come floating back towards them, so Dad got hold of a boat hook and calmly pushed it out of the way, he said it was safe as long as you didn’t touch the spines! At the end of the war he joined the police force, but sadly died aged only 57. My family and I are immensely proud of him.
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TF Palmer . British Army TF Palmer served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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L/Cpl. Thomas Gerrard Palmer . British Army 8th Btn., B Coy. Middlesex Regiment from Morecambe My dad, Thomas Palmer, landed with the machine gun battalion as a bren carrier driver on about D-day plus 9 or 11. He was with them until the end of the war. He wrote an account of his experiences in a school book in the early 1960s. I read this book. When he died the book was missing and to my shame I think he felt we were not sufficiently interested and he burnt it. Fred Armstrong was his buddy. I do remember bits of his memories.
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Veronica Palmer . Women's Land Army I am looking for Veronica Palmer (1944-45). My name was Pauline French and we were based at Pamphill Manor, Wimborne, Dorset in the WLA.
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William S. Palmer . United States Army from Frankfort, Philadelphia, PA William Palmer saved several of his wounded foxhole buddies from a German onslaught during World War II. After working for the CCC, Ryan said, Mr. Palmer "went right into the Army." At a time and place in France lost to memory, Mr. Palmer "saved a few guys' lives," Ryan said. Mr. Palmer "was in a foxhole, and the Germans were rushing them," Ryan said. "There were three wounded guys in there with him, and he kept the Germans pinned down" with a Browning automatic rifle. "He wasn't wounded," Ryan said, and "held them off until reinforcements came." Though some veterans are silent about their wartime experiences until late in life, Mr. Palmer used to talk about it all the time. The Bronze Star and the military papers documenting his deeds were lost in October, Ryan said, when Hurricane Sandy hit their house in Brigantine. Though Mr. Palmer was not wounded in the foxhole attack, he later was wounded by a land mine severely enough that he was in the hospital for 18 months while they put him back together.
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WJ Palmer . British Army Dorsetshire Regiment WJ Palmer served with the Dorsetshire Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Theodore J. Paluch . United States Army 285th Field Artillery Observation Btn. from Philadelphia Teddy Paulch was a survivor of the infamous Malmedy massacre, in which 84 American soldiers who had surrendered in a field in Belgium were gunned down by the Waffen-SS on the 17th of December 1944.
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AW Pamenter . British Army AW Pamenter served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Stoker 1st Class. Harry Edward Pamplett . Royal Navy HMS Prunella (d.21st Jun 1940)
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Sgt. Thomas George Pamplin . British Army 23rd Field Regiment Royal Artillery from Battersea, London (d.8th July 1944) Tom Pamplin was regarded as the sensible one. He wrote a series of letters to his younger brother, who had been wounded in the head at Dunkirk, advising him to leave hospital as soon as he could and get a job. As the oldest brother of 3, who had all joined up prior to, or at the outbreak of the war, he had been destined to take over the family shop in Battersea. His death in Italy devastated the family. By all accounts, Tom was a principled anti-fascist, who left a comfortable life to fight for a cause. He is buried in Assisi Cemetery.
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L/Cpl Walter James Pancott . British Army 2nd Btn Royal Irish Fusiliers from Omagh
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CPO. Charles Lewis Pangbourne . Royal Navy from Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire Charles Lewis Pangbourne was my grandfather on my maternal side.
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WL Pankhurst . British Army 80th Regiment Reconnaissance Corps WL Pankhurst served with the 80th Regiment Reconnaissance Corps British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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JD Pannell . British Army JD Pannell served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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RF Pannett . British Army RF Pannett served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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JH Panter . British Army 8th Btn. Royal Tank Regiment JH Panter served with the 8th Btn. Royal Tank Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Capt. David Pantin . British Army David Pantin was injured at El Alamein whilst serving with the 8th Army. He died 1992.
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Ernest Pantony . My grandad is Ernest Pantony who is in the front left corner of this picture of a few survivors from Nino Bixio in 1942. There are a few names on the back but some are very faint. John Lavender, Albert Metcalfe, Pat Finney, Albert Winkle, Jim Thursfield, Thomas Pearl and George Turnbull.
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PO. Percy Pantrey . Royal Navy HMS Mauritius from Ashford, Kent My father, Percy Pantrey, served in HMS Mauritius from 16th of December 1940 to 24th of July 1944 joining as a Leading Stoker and leaving as a PO Stoker.
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Livio Paolini . Police from Castelgiorgio, Italy My uncle was an Italian policeman called Livio Paolini, in Castelgiorgio in the province of Terni (Umbria). He was arrested about 8th September 1943 and interned in Stalag 7A, where he died on 26th December 1944 from TB. I do not believe this version of events because I have a letter dated 20th December 1944 where it says he's OK and there's no mention of his illness.
My family was able to recover his remains in 2002 and he was buried in the cemetery of the country of birth of his uncle, but I would like to know the truth about the cause of his death. Can anyone help me with my research?
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Richard Pape . Royal Air Force Richard Pape served as an RAF Navigator and was held as a POW in Stalag 8b
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L/Bdr. William John Papworth . British Army 5th Medium Regiment Royal Artillery from 19th Sep 1943 William John Papworth, 5th Royal Artillery. During WW2 this Australian soldier fought for our country. He died in the Battle of Salerno.
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S/Sgt. Eugene Emile Paquin . US Army 20th Armoured Infantry Battalion from Dracut, Massachusetts Gene Paquin was captured on the 4th of March 1945.
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PFC James Lonzo Paradise . US Army 422nd Infantry Regiment from Scottsboro, Alabama Our father James L. Paradise was a POW in WWII. He was a member of the 422nd Infantry Regiment. James Paradise PFC, Serial Number 34001914
He didn't talk much about his experiences as a POW but I won't ever forget the tales he did tell. He told us a story once of his camp having potatoe peelings to eat and somtimes only bread and many times nothing. He told us about eating donkey as well. He said none of the men wanted the "end" peice of the bread, so he always took it saying to us he thought it was more bread than a regular slice because it was thicker in the middle. He was roped in the box cars jammed in like cattle,and forced marched barefooted in the snow for 2 or 3 days. James Paradise was a POW in camp Stalag 9B Bad Orb Hessen-Nassau, Prussia 50-09. He was held in this camp until his release when the war ended.
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John Paradise . United States Air Force 14th Liaison Squadron Johnny Paradise is my mum's father who is believed to have died in WW2. It is thought that he may not have known about my mum.
My beloved grandma recently died and has offered limited information regarding my mum's dad, except for his name, he was Italian (lived in the U.S) and was based sometime in Byley at RAF Cranage, Cheshire with the No 14 USAAF Liasion Squadron at around 1944 or early 1945. My gran met him when he was based at Byley at a dance. It is believed that Johnny Paradise died in the war but there is no evidence of this. It would be fantastic if any information about him is found.
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Cpl. Frederick Harry Pardoe . British Army Royal Signals from 4 Lyndhurst Drive, Wordesley My father Frederick Pardoe was a corporal in the Royal Signals and was a POW in Stalag IV-B, Muhlberg, Elbe. He died in 1987 but never spoke of the war and I am trying to find out about his time there and his military record.
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AB. Leonard Thomas Pardoe . Royal Navy HMS Flycatcher from Lye, Stourbridge, Worcs Len Pardoe born 6th of May 1924 was from Quarry Bank, Staffordshire, a Black Country lad.
He joined the Navy in November 1942 serving on HMS Drake and because of the practice of filling the ranks with people from a wide range of areas, the first couple of weeks was spent trying to understand what the other ratings were saying, due to all the diverse accents.
At the wars' end he was in Australia with Mobile Operational Naval Air Base, so didn't return home until late 1946, having circumnavigated the globe. He later became a newspaper cartoonist in Birmingham.
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Lt. Lance Pardoe-Thomas . Royal Navy Reserve HMS Ranpura from Newport, Wales Lance Pardoe-Thomas served in HMS Ranpura.
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LN Pardy . British Army LN Pardy served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project has lost touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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