Norman Johnson was born on the 29^th of December 1919* and baptised at St. Ethelwold’s Church, Shotton on the 2^nd of February 1919 the son of Ada Johnson, Hawarden Road, Queensferry.   *Clerical error by the Vicar J.J.J. ROBINSON?

Ada was the only daughter of Thomas & Susannah Johnson (nee Jones) who are seen on the 1911 census living at Aston Road, Queensferry, Hawarden.    Thomas, 54, and a Machinist (Gold Mining, Boiler & Engineering Works) had been born in Mollington, Cheshire.   The rest of the family had been born in Queensferry, Fllintshire.   Susannah, 42, tells us that they had been married 17 years and they had 4 children, all still living.   The children were Harry, 16, working in the Gold Mining, Boiler & Engineering Works as a Machinist.   Ada was 15 years old, while Frank, 13 and Arthur, 11, were both at school.

Ada & Norman Johnson are seen again on the 1921 census when they were living with Ada Johnson’s parents and siblings at Hawarden Road, Queensferry.    Thomas Jones Johnson was head of the household, and he was 65 years old, born in Mollington, Chester.   He was a Machinist for the Sandycroft Ltd., Iron Foundry.   His wife Susanna Johnson was 52 years and 5 months old and was doing ‘House Duties.’   Ada Johnson was 25 years and 9 months old and single.   Frank Johnson was 23 years and 8 months old, single and a Turner for John Summers & Ltd., Shotton, Chester.   Arthur Johnson was 22 years and 1 month old, single and a Turner for Sandycroft Ltd., Sandycroft, they were both ‘Out of Work.’    Their grandson, Norman Johnson, was 2 years and 6 months old, this record states that both his parents are alive.    Elizabeth Jones, a visitor, was 39 years and 5 months old, single and a Domestic Servant.   All had been born in Queensferry.

The next time we see Ada is on the 1939 National Register which was taken on the 29^th of September 1939.   She is living in Gladstone Way, Queensferry, Hawarden with her widowed mother Susana (sic) whose birth date is given as the 23rd of January 1869 and is doing “Unpaid Domestic Duties” which is how most married or Widowed women are described on this register, if they did not have a job.  Ada, born 15^th September 1895 was single and a Wine and Spirit Shop Assistant.    Norman Johnson, born 29^th of December 1918, a Motor Driver & Bread Salesman, Single.  There was also a Constance Mowbray, born 22^nd of June 1922 and again the same as Susana doing “Unpaid Domestic Duties.”

Living next door was Ada’s brother Frank and his wife Catherine and possibly 4 children.

Norman enlisted, according to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Enlistment Register on the 16th of October 1939.   He was Transferred to the Army Air Corps on the 28^th of December 1942.   His Documents were sent to Edinburgh on the 16^th of January 1943.  Norman was Killed in Action on the 7^th of December 1943.

 The website https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_(Royal_Welch)_Parachute_Battalion may help explain how Norman became a member of the 6^th Bn Parachute Regiment: –

6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion

Nickname(s)      Red Devils [1]

Motto(s) Utrinque Paratus – (Latin for “Ready for Anything”)

The 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment raised by the British Army during the Second World War.

The battalion was created in 1942 by the conversion of the 10th Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers to parachute duties. It was then assigned to the 2nd Parachute Brigade, at that time serving in the 1st Airborne Division in England.

The battalion’s first combat action was in 1943, when it participated in an amphibious landing, Operation Slapstick, at the port of Taranto in Italy. When the 1st Airborne Division left Italy, the battalion, still with the 2nd Parachute Brigade, remained behind, where it took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino.

The battalion’s first combat parachute jump was during Operation Dragoon the Allied invasion of the south of France. Soon after the invasion, the battalion returned to Italy and took part in a second combat parachute jump, Operation Manna in Greece.

I also believe that he must have been part of Operation Slapstick, as the 1st Airborne Division were involved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Slapstick

Operation Slapstick – from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of the Allied invasion of Italy

Date      9 September 1943

Location – Taranto, Italy

The Field Ambulance units in the division treated 2,150 casualties, between the landing and being withdrawn. Not all of these were from the 1st Airborne Division.[1]

Italian Campaign

British airborne forces operations of the Second World War

Operation Slapstick was the code name for a British landing from the sea at the Italian port of Taranto during the Second World War. The operation, one of three landings during the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943, was undertaken by airborne troops of the British 1st Airborne Division, commanded by Major-General George Hopkinson.

Planned at short notice, the mission followed an offer by the Italian government to open the ports of Taranto and Brindisi on the heel of Italy to the Allies. The airborne division was selected to undertake the mission, but at the time they were located in North Africa. A shortage of transport aircraft meant the division could not land in their traditional way by parachute and glider, and all the landing craft in the area were already allocated to the other landings: Operation Avalanche at Salerno on the western coast, and Operation Baytown at Calabria. Instead, the division had to be transported across the Mediterranean by ships of the Royal Navy. The landing was unopposed, and the airborne division successfully captured the ports of Taranto, and later Brindisi on the Adriatic coast in working order.

The only German forces in the area were elements of the 1st Parachute Division (1. Fallschirmjäger Division),[note 1] which engaged the advancing British in ambushes and at roadblocks during a fighting withdrawal north. Eventually, by the end of September, the British 1st Airborne Division advanced 125 miles (201 km) to Foggia. Reinforcements from two infantry divisions had by then been landed behind them, which allowed the airborne troops to be withdrawn to Taranto. Soon after, the division, minus the 2nd Parachute Brigade, sailed for England in preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_campaign_(World_War_II)

Italian campaign (World War II)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia –   (Redirected from Italian Campaign (World War II))

Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre

The Italian campaign of World War II consisted of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to 1945. The Joint Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and led the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, followed in September by the invasion of the Italian mainland and the campaign in Italy until the surrender of the German Armed Forces in Italy in May 1945.

It is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945, 60,000–70,000 Allied and 38,805–150,660 German soldiers died in Italy.[21][nb 1] The number of Allied casualties was about 320,000 and the German figure (excluding those involved in the final surrender) was over 330,000.[21][nb 2] Fascist Italy, prior to its collapse, suffered about 200,000 casualties, mostly POWs taken in the Allied invasion of Sicily, including more than 40,000 killed or missing.[23] Over 150,000 Italian civilians died, as did 35,828 anti-Fascist partisans and some 35,000 troops of the Italian Social Republic.[24][25][26] In the West, no other campaign cost more than Italy in terms of lives lost and wounds suffered by infantry forces of both sides, during bitter small-scale fighting around strongpoints at the Winter Line, the Anzio beachhead and the Gothic Line.[27]

The Allied invasion of Sicily, started in July 1943, led to the collapse of the Fascist Italian regime and the fall of Mussolini on 25 July, which was deposed and arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III. The new government signed an armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943. However, German forces shortly succeeded in taking control of northern and central Italy; Mussolini, who was rescued by German paratroopers, established a collaborationist puppet state, the Italian Social Republic (RSI) to administer the German-occupied territory, leading to Italy being split in two. The Germans, often helped by Fascists, also committed several atrocities against Italian civilians and non-fascist troops. As result, the Italian Co-Belligerent Army was created to fight against the RSI and its German allies, alongside a large Italian resistance movement, while other Italian troops, loyal to Mussolini, continued to fight alongside the Germans in the National Republican Army. This period is known as the Italian Civil War. The campaign ended when Army Group C surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on May 2, 1945, one week before the formal German Instrument of Surrender. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican, both surrounded by Italian territory, also suffered damage during the campaign.

Also remembered on https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/MilitaryRecords/paras/2339888

Excerpt from the CWGC Citation may help explain where Norman died: –

“The site of this cemetery was selected by the 5th Corps and into it were brought the graves of men who had died in the fierce fighting on the Adriatic sector of the front in November-December 1943, and during the static period that followed. In addition, the cemetery contains the graves of a number of escaped prisoners of war who died while trying to reach the Allied lines.”

 According to the CWGC Grave Concentration Report Form, Norman was buried first at 19GR/APV2170, a place of which I have no knowledge and is unknown to me, but I will contact the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to find out where that was, but it probably meant he was buried, perhaps, where he fell and then was reburied on the 24^th July 1944 at Sangro River War Cemetery where he now rests.

I wrote to the CWGC and this is their reply: –

Subject: RE: CWGC Enquiry Acknowledgement: Number 00087694

Dear Mrs Williams,

Thank you for your email below.

The reference number visible on the concentration report for Private Johnson (19GR/APV/2170) refers to the Field Grave Report of the original burial location. Unfortunately, due to the sensitive nature of some of these documents, we do not publish them online or provide copies of them to the public.

I can however provide you with the information included thereon which states that Private Johnson was recovered from Map Reference 224978. This map reference equates to an area North West of Sant’Eusanio del Sangro.

Please find attached a document I have compiled that shows the location of this map reference accompanied with GPS co-ordinates and a google map of the area where I have kept Torino di Sangro visible (the location of Sangro River War Cemetery).

I trust this answers your query.

Kind Regards

Martin Skelly

Records Administrator Headstones

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Maidenhead, Berkshire, United Kingdom

Casualty List No. 1323 tells us that Norman was with the Army Air Corps – 6^th Bn Parachute Regiment and he was Killed in Action on the 7^th of December 1943.

Casualty List No. 1323 (Page 12) Corrections tells us that Norman’s place of Casualty was North Africa – Italy.

Norman Johnson in the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995 –  JOHNSON, Norman of Gladstone Way, Queensferry, Near Chester, Flintshire died 7^th December 1943 on War Service.    Administration (with Will) Chester 24 May to Ada JOHNSON.

Norman’s mother, Ada, I believe, married George S. Fraser in a Civil Marriage in Hawarden in 1949 (Flintshire (Mold)HAW/19/97).

Norman was obviously loved by his family very much and they made sure he would be remembered by adding his name to the WW2 War Memorial

HE LIVES FOR EVER IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO LOVE HIM

Addendum:- John Williams, who is remembered on the Hope WW2 War Memorial was in the same regiment, sadly, he died in France.   Please click on the link to read his story.