Driver James G McKinnon

James Gardiner McKinnon was the son of Peter and Catherine McKinnon, of Renton, Dumbartonshire. He enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps and volunteered for Airborne forces.

Driver McKinnon successfully completed parachute training at RAF Ringway on course number 27 from 14 to 24 September 1942 and was posted to Motor Transport Platoon, attached to 2 Platoon, 250 (Airborne) Light Composite Company, Royal Army Service Corps, and took part in Operation Market Garden (Arnhem).

Dvr McKinnon was killed in action on 19 September 1944, age 26, whilst attempting to collect supplies which had fallen wide in a field just beyond the Oosterbeek Hoog railway station. The party of about 20 men under Captain Kavanagh were ambushed by German troops when they crossed the Dreyensebrug bridge (Roll of Honour, 5th revised edition, 2011). Dvr McKinnon is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial to the missing.

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