Lance Corporal William E Baxter

William Edward Baxter was the son of William and Bessie Baxter, of Leicester.

He served with The Norfolk Regiment prior to volunteering for airborne forces and is believed to have qualified as a military parachutist in 1942.

He served in HQ Coy, 1st Parachute Battalion, as an officers' mess orderly prior to its deployment to North Africa and went on to serve in Sicily and Italy.

Baxter was promoted to Lance Corporal during his service with the battalion and remained behind in Italy when the 1st Parachute Brigade embarked for the UK in November 1943. The reasons for this and his subsequent death are unknown.

Lance Corporal Baxter died on Boxing Day 1943, aged 27 years, and is now buried at Bari War Cemetery, Italy.

Headstone photograph courtesy of Bob Hilton.