GEORGE WILLIAM LANKESTER
Born: 1915, Easton, Suffolk.
Died: 28th June 1944; age: 29.
Residence: Suffolk.
Rank: Warrant Officer Class 2; Service Number: 798810.
Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 1st Battalion – Infantry.
Grave Reference:
5.C.9.
Calvados,
France.
Relatives Notified & Address: Son of George & Frances Lankester; husband of Marjorie Constance Lankester, of Blaxhall, Suffolk.
Father: George Lankester, born 1867, Newbourne, Suffolk.
Mother: Frances Lankester (nee Rumsey), born 1879, 87, Post House, Wethersfield, Essex.
In 1940, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, George married Marjorie Constance Poacher, born January 1914, Plomesgate, Suffolk – daughter of George James Poacher and Mary Elizabeth Poacher (nee Scarcliffe), of Little Glemham, Suffolk.
They had 1 son:
John W. Lankester, born 1940, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.
George is also commemorated on the British Normandy Memorial, virtually opened by His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, on the 6th June 2021.
An extract from the 1st Bn Suffolks War Diary
1944- D-Day and into Europe
April Moved to Portsmouth.…
3rd – 4th June Loaded onto LSIs (Landing Ship Infantry, huge ships capable of carrying a Battalion).
5th June Sailed into the Channel.
6th June 1st Suffolks land at Queen beach, their designated area of the British landings named SWORD, on the coast of Normandy. They are on the extreme eastern flank of the Invasion, just west of Ouistreham. At the end of the day the Battalion digs in, though they have suffered 7 killed and 25 wounded and capture 270 prisoners.
7th -10th June Pause for re-organisation and regrouping against any enemy counter-attack.
25th – 26th June Ordered to capture Epron. This operation is codenamed ” Mitten”, and the Suffolks are to take an enemy position, the Chateau de la Londe.
27th June 1st Suffolks come under enemy shell fire and the South Lancs who were in support suffer heavy casualties and do not reach their objective. The 1st Suffolks stay the night in cornfields.
28th June 1st Suffolks attack the Chateau de la Londe and by the end of the day they take possession of their objective, though at a cost of 161 men killed, wounded or missing.
29th June For a week, constant enemy shells fall into the area of the Chateau.
SUFFOLK REGIMENT MUSEUM
Friends of The Suffolk Regiment
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