Ernest M Lemon | ParaData

Ernest Maurice Lemon enlisted into The General Service Corps. He then transferred to The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment).

He was then ‘claimed’ by his brother 'Percy' in The 53rd (Worcester Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regiment, which was redesignated as an Airborne Airlanding Light Regiment (RA) in 1943.

Both then served in C Troop 211 Battery (RA) a unit of the 53rd (Worcester Yeomanry) Airlanding Light Regiment Royal Artillery (RA).

In 1943 he was in 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, but does not appear to have jumped into Normandy with them, so by then he may have been in 210 or 212 Battery who went to Normandy by sea due to the lack of available aircraft. He saw active service in Normandy in June 1944, then during Operation Varsity and then proceeded through to the Baltic, until returning to Bulford in late May 1945.

Gnr Lemon then went on to qualify as a military parachutist, with his brother Percy, on Course B183 which ran at RAF Ringway from 22 October to 14 November 1945.

He then served in Palestine.

Ernest passed away at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester on Thursday 21 May 2015.

Date not known
53 Airlanding Light Regiment RA (Gunner)

Operations

Event

Advance to the Baltic

The airborne soldiers were well suited to exploit the fluid situation that occurred following the collapse of the Rhine barrier defence. Short fierce actions were fought from the tanks of the 4th Tank Battalion of the Grenadier Guards and whatever transport could be purloined.

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Ardennes

After the Allied landings in Normandy and subsequent advance through France and Belgium, the German Army had succeeded in stalling the Allied offensive along their line of defence at the German border - the ‘Siegfried Line’.

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Normandy (Operation Overlord)

Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of occupied Europe commonly known as D-Day, saw the 6th Airborne Division for the first time.

Event

Rhine Crossing (Operation Varsity)

Operation Varsity was the largest single airborne operation in history. On a single day, over 16,000 men were inserted by glider and parachute into western Germany. Around 8000 of those came from the British 6th Airborne Division, flying aboard 243 C47 aircraft and 440 gliders.

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Ernest and Percy Lemon, 53rd (Worcester Yeomanry) Airlanding Light Regiment RA, Remembrance Sunday, 2014.

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Gnrs P Lemon, J Jolley and E Lemon, Palestine, 1946.

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Gunners Percy and Ernest Lemon, Palestine, 1946.

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Ernest and Percival Lemon, date unknown.

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Gunners Percy and Ernest Lemon, 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, Nathanya, Palestine, 3 May 1946.

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Members of 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA. 1946.

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Members of 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, in Palestine, 1946.

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Five troops of 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, Palestine, 1946.

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Three member of 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, Palestine, 1946.

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5 soldiers of the 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, Nathanya, Palestine, 3 April 1946.

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Men of the 211 Airlanding Light Battery, date unknown.

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Troops from the 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, Nathanya, Palestine, 14 March 1946.

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A group of the 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, Nathanya, Palestine, 7 May 1946.

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Three members of the 211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, Nathanya, Palestine, 4 June 1946.

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211 Airlanding Light Battery RA, 1943.

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