Lance Corporal Walter R M Secrett

Lance Corporal Walter Russell Mullin Secrett served with 10th Parachute Battalion and took part in the Battle of Arnhem, during Op Market Garden.

Records indicate that L Cpl Secrett was among men from 10th Parachute Battalion who had reached a mile marker 6 kilometres from Arnhem on Amsterdamseweg, about 1000 yards west from a junction with Dreyensweg. They also had a Glider Pilot, Sgt Huxley in their party of nine men.

Although the exact circumstances are not known, the soldiers appear to have been ambushed as they passed the mile marker. The impact of 20mm cannonfire could clearly be discerned upon the mile marker and probably occured during the same incident. All in the party were apparently killed instantly. They were initially buried beside the milemarker (see photos) before being reinterred later in plots beside each other at Oosterbeek War Cemetery.

Lance Corporal Secrett died on 19 September 1944, aged 30 years old. He is now buried at Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Arnhem.