Trooper Henry J Pascoe

Henry James Pascoe was the son of Edith Maud Pascoe, of Wellington, Somerset. He enlisted in the Dorsetshire Regiment and volunteered for airborne forces.

Trooper Pascoe successfully completed parachute training at RAF Ringway on course number 105 from 1 to 9 March 1944. His course report stated “Very keen hard worker - average performer”. He was posted to B Squadron, A Troop 1st Special Air Service Regiment, Army Air Corps, and took part in Operation Bulbasket.

Tpr Pascoe was murdered by a French doctor, by means of a lethal injection on 8 July 1944, aged 26, (according to the CWGC records) along with two of his comrades, Corporal John R B Williams, and Trooper Joseph Ogg. Their bodies were never recovered and they are commemorated on the Bayeux Memorial to the missing.

Further research conducted by Christopher Perry with details from the 1939 register, gives Henry's date of birth as 1916, which means he was probably 28 years old when he died.