Private Francis M Stern

Francis Maurice Stern was the son of Francis Joseph (1896 - 1982) and Kate Irene (1900 - 1946) Stern. He is shown on the 1939 Register as living at 13 Mount Street, Battle, Sussex, with his Mother and working as a Cinema Mechanic/Projectionist and his mother is shown as a Cinema Manageress. He enlisted in the East Surrey Regiment on 30 May 1940, transferred to The Royal Armoured Corps and then volunteered for airborne forces. 

Private Stern successfully completed parachute training on course 86 at RAF Ringway from 4 to 19 October 1943. His course reported stated “Nervous and slow, but improved.” He was posted to 156 Parachute Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, and took part in Operation Market Garden (Arnhem).

A number of Allied soldiers died of wounds in the St Joseph Psychiatric Hospital at Apeldoorn, and many of them were buried in the adjacent cemetery. Pte Stern was reported as being laid to rest in grave 8 with his date of death being 24 September 1944, and with the correct army number (Source: layout of plot in Apeldoorn archives). In a letter dated 29 October 1945 from the Roman Catholic Hospital in Enschede (used as a Kriegslazarett (Military Hospital) by the Germans during the last phase of the war) to the Municipality of Enschede, the names of 18 British soldiers were recorded as patients. There is an entry for ‘Francis Stern, born 19 November 1916 (sic), died of wounds here’.

The Ministry of Defence at Hayes, Middlesex, confirmed that ‘According to the records held, he was discharged from the army on 5 June 1947. However, they say that he was previously reported as having died of wounds on 21 April 1945.’

It is concluded that Pte Stern was recorded as dead at three different places, but that he finally returned home safely!

The Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 shows his death as being registered in June 1992 in Ealing, Greater London, aged 68. We do not have the actual day of death at present.

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