Private William S Barham

Private William Stanley Barham, son of William John and Harriet Amelia Barham, of West Ham, Essex and brother of Para Sgt Leonard Barham, enlisted into The Royal Artillery in a Coast Artillery Regiment, probably 19 Coast Regiment RA as they served in Gibraltar in 1943 and Pte Barham sent a postcard home form there in 1943. When he returned from Gibraltar, his brother encouraged him to join The Parachute Regiment.

Pte ‘Bill’ Barham volunteered for airborne forces in late 1943 and attended RAF Ringway for parachute course 94, which ran from 6 to 20 December 1943. The instructors’ comments state ‘Pte Barham : ‘Cheerful and reliable, good performance on synthetic and parachuting’.

After being initially posted to The Holding Battalion he was posted to The 10th Parachute Battalion and took part in Operation Market Garden.

His brother Sgt Leonard Barham, also fought in Arnhem.

Pte ‘Bill’ Barham died from wounds on 20 September 1944, aged 26 years old. He orginally had a field burial a 100 metres west of the Hartenstein Hotel, but was later reburied at Oosterbeek War Cemetery, Arnhem.