Private John McKernan

John McKernan was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, the son of John and Eva May McKernan, of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.

He was 5’ 8”, 137 lbs, Medium complexion, Hazel eyes, Brown hair and with 20/50 vision. He enlisted on 2 March 1942 giving a false age but this was picked up and his birth certificate was produced on 10 February 1943.

He arrived in England on 19 September 1943 and took part in Operation Overlord (Normandy).

Private McKernan was a signalman in the North Shore Regiment, attached to the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. He arrived in France as part of the Seatail on 13 June 1944, and was killed in action on 19 August 1944, aged 20, and was buried in Ranville War Cemetery, Calvados, France.

If you are part of Pte McKernan’s family and would like to complete this biography, you can apply to the curator to do so. To do this you will need to become a member of ParaData and select the 'friend or family member' option on the registration form.

If you would like to find out more about becoming a member please visit our registration page.

Members of ParaData can submit their material by clicking on the 'Add content to this article' button on the right.