Lieutenant William J Hegan

William John Hegan was the husband of Phyllis Lucy Hegan, of Frindsbury, Kent.

He was granted an emergency commission with The Devonshire Regiment after completing training at 170 Officer Cadet Training Unit, which specialised in training Machine Gun Officers, using the 303 Vickers Medium Machine Gun as the principal weapon.

Lt Hegan later transferred to the Royal Artillery and then volunteered for parachute duties, qualifying as a military parachutist on course 38 which ran at RAF Ringway from 20 November to 1 December 1942.

He was killed in action while serving with 1st Airlanding Anti Tank Battery in the Italy campaign.

Lt Hegan died on 27 September 1943, aged 34 years, and is now buried at Bari War Cemetery Italy.

Headstone photograph courtesy of Bob Hilton.