Corporal James Morton

James Morton was born on the 25th June 1918, in Glasgow, Scotland.

He enlisted into The King’s Regiment prior to 1942, and having volunteered for Airborne Forces was
transferred to The Parachute Regiment (Army Air Corps) on the 8 th June 1944.

After completing the selection process at Hardwick Hall he was sent on Parachute Course 123, at
R.A.F. Ringway, 2nd to 18th July 1944. His Parachute Instructors comments: “Average, morale high,
keen &  reliable”. Upon completion of the 8 parachute descents he was sent to the No 1 Airborne
Force Holding Unit.

From there he was posted to the 10th Parachute Battalion, and assigned to ‘B’ Company, who were
then stationed at Thorpe Satchville in Leicestershire.

A Section 2 i/c in 12 Platoon, ‘B’ Company for Operation ‘MARKET’, he took off on Monday, 18 th
September 1944, but his Dakota A/C (Chalk No. 697) was shot down, and he became an evader.
He eventually, along with the rest of the ‘stick’, returned to Allied lines, and upon return to U.K. was
transferred to the 2nd Parachute Battalion.

He was accidentally killed on the Rifle Range at Swayfield, near Bourne, on the 19 th April 1945, aged
28. The report stated that he died as a result of: “Shock due to laceration of the brain caused by a rifle
bullet fired from a defective cartridge”.

The son of Alex and Mary Morton, of Glasgow; husband of Marie Morton (nee Maguire) of Glasgow,
he now lies at rest in Oakham Cemetery, Rutland, grave 1, Compartment 85.