Parke George Herbert RAOC Pte 10583812
Personnel Entry
Name Parke George Herbert
Army number 10583812
Rank Private
Decorations
Date of birth Birth registered Q1 1923 at Mitford, Norfolk. Mother's maiden surname Allcock.
Age 20 at the time of his death.
Unit Joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Attached to Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Posted to 70 Brigade Workshops. Killed in an accident 31/5/1943.
Company/Battery 70 Brigade Workshops.
Platoon or other sub-unit
Task or role Not yet known.
Joined Brigade
Promotions None as far as is known.
Wounded No.
Prisoner of War No.
Died/Killed in action Killed in a minefield explosion at the Penally Rifle Ranges near Tenby, Pembrokeshire. Some information indicates that he ignored warnings to use only a cleared path.
Home address Son of Herbert and Martha Parke of Norwich Road, Bawdeswell, East Dereham. Had worked as a Butcher's assistant. Buried in Bawdeswell Cemetery, North Side 5.6. The legend below the cross on his headstone reads - "Abide with Me".
Source table
A short article which appeared in the April 2011 edition of the Bawdeswell Parish Magazine - "The Reeve's Tale" in connection with local deaths during World War Two read as follows:-
“G.H. Parke; RAOC aged 20 died 31 May 1943. Son of Herbert and Martha Parke of Bawdeswell. After repeated warnings Parke failed to keep to the correct path on a firing range near Tenby, killed instantly by an explosion. He was attached at the time of his death to the R.E.M.E. and had been a butcher’s assistant living at Norwich Rd, Bawdeswell East , Dereham.”
Sincere thanks are due to Emma Raines and to Robin Taylor for the above extract and for the headstone photograph.
