Lance Corporal John Deasy

John Deasy was the son of Thomas and Ellen Deasy, and husband of Dorothy Emma Deasy, of Perry Barr, Birmingham. He was born in Ireland and worked as an electric tractor driver in Birmingham before enlisting in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later volunteered for airborne forces.

In September 1941 Lance Corporal Deasy was one of the earliest volunteers for airborne forces and after his selection training at Hardwick Hall he was posted to 9 Platoon, C Company, 3rd Parachute Battalion and then sent on No 3 Parachute Course to RAF Ringway. This was the third course of training parachutists for the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 1st Parachute Brigade and it commenced on 5 December and was completed on 13 December 1941. The course comprised of 7 Officers and 235 men of the 2nd & 3rd battalion’s, under the overall command of Major G Rothery of the 3rd Battalion.

L/Cpl Deasy and the rest of the battalion spent a year preparing for operations and finally in mid 1942 the 1st Parachute Brigade was warned off for overseas service.

L/Cpl Deasy was killed in action on 29 January 1943 while serving in Tunisia as part of Operation Torch. He is buried in Medjez-El-Bab War Cemetery.

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