John F Whitmill

John Frederick Whitmill was born on the 27 May 1923, and came from Northampton. He enlisted into The Royal Warwickshire regiment on the 3 February 1942, aged 18 years old.

He volunteered for Airborne Forces in 1942. John successfully parachute jump trained at RAF Ringway on Course 35. This course ran between 19 October and 7 November 1942. There were 3 injuries of note. One caused by a pupil getting knocked down by a motorcycle and another hurt his leg. These accidents were probably due to the thick fog that was prevalent during this training course. There were also 2 deaths caused by parachutes failing to function properly whilst jumping balloon. This did affect morale and caused some refusals. 

He was in the 1st Parachute Brigade and this unit saw service in North Africa and Italy, 1943.

According to archive records, John did not take part in either the airborne part of the seaborne part of Operation ‘Market-Garden’, and therefore was probably on Rear Party in the UK. He is listed as taking part in Operation ‘Doomsday’ and the family still have his certificate. 

John transferred back to The Royal Warwickshire Regiment on the 8 December 1945. At some stage he transferred to The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, and served with them in Palestine.

He was released to the Z (T) Reserves on the 14 February 1947.