259250 Pte John William Turton British Army 6th Btn York and Lancaster Regiment from:Ilkeston Derbyshire (d.3rd September 1944) Whilst researching for a school project with my son, we discovered that my great Uncle, John Turton, had nearly escaped his fate in Crete, Greece in 1944. John served with the 6th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment in WW2. He had permission of leave for a cut on his arm that had turned septic.
However, he did not want to be known as a coward so he left Ashton Street in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, waving goodbye to his mother, father and two sisters and was never to return home again.
He was shot in the throat and died almost instantly on 3rd of September 1944. One thousand eight hundred and eighty seven men died there.
John was 19 years old. Today he lies in Italy at the Coriano Ridge War Cemetery, and it is now a place that my son and I wish to visit to pay our deepest respects. He is remembered on the Cassino Memorial in Italy. Son of Thomas Turton, and of Isabella Turton, of Wrekenton, Co. Durham.
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