PARKER, Walter Charles

4808211, Gunner, Royal Artillery, 338 Battery, 102 Lt A.A. Regt

Born 1911

Died 14/06/1943, age 32, at the back of 22 Grimsby Road, Cleethorpes

Buried 18/06/1943

1939 – living at 76 Manchester Street and is a painter and decorator. Also at this address are Samuel C Parker, also a painter and decorator and his wife Annie Parker (nee Taylor) a grocery shopkeeper. Samuel may be his father, but as he didn’t marry Annie until 1919, she wouldn’t appear to be Walter’s mother.

Husband of Norah B Smith, married 1941 in Grimsby

Address at time of death: 76 Manchester Street, Cleethorpes

Walter Parker was killed during a major attack on the Grimsby and Cleethorpes area during 13th/14th June, when 1000 Butterfly bombs were dropped on Grimsby and the same on Cleethorpes and Great Coates rural areas. Also dropped were 6000 incendiaries, 44 Phosphorus oil bombs, 18 Firepot H.E.s, 4 x 1000kg and 9 small H.E. Bombs in Grimsby and other smaller bombs in Cleethorpes. He was one of 14 killed in Cleethorpes and more than 60 killed in Grimsby, with many more injured.

 This report from the Yorkshire Post on 16 June 1943 mentions Walter Parker and gives some details of what happened:

ANTI-PERSONNEL BOMBS

East Coast Town Deaths

The small anti-personnel bombs, dropped by raiders early on Monday morning, were still exploding at intervals yesterday in various parts of the East Coast town that was attacked.

One workman was killed and another injured yesterday by one of the bombs, which exploded as the men were opening a door to enter a workshop. A police constable Walter Rouse (39) died yesterday from injuries caused by another of the bombs. He was helping a man who was hurt and had fallen in the street during the raid, when one of the bombs exploded. Rouse, a native of Scunthorpe, leaves a widow and three children. A soldier, Walter Charles Parker, also died from injuries due to one of the bombs.

 Some people appear to have handled them with safety. A man carried one half a mile to deliver it to a police station. A woman who picked one up from among the peas on her allotment, and did not know what it was, took it to a warden. A railway porter collected three and carried them under his arm until a workman called a warning.

HOSPITAL SISTER’S COURAGE

The courage and coolness of Sister Catherine Dennis, in charge of an auxiliary hospital, which caught fire after an enemy raid on Monday, helped to save many patients.

Miss Dennis, who is about 30, organized the staff, who assisted by soldiers, carried some patients to safety. Although showers of incendiary bombs were falling, she was

 undeterred and spent 23 hours attending to injured people.”