John Maynard Williams

Memorial: Thornbury - St Mary's Church

Regiment: 6th Maritime Regiment

Medals: 1939–45 Star, War Medal 1939–1945

Rank and number: Lance Bombardier

Parents: Stanley Maynard and Florence Kate Williams

Marital status: Married

Home address: Home Address: Norwich House, 43 High Street, Thornbury, Bristol. Lived: 57 Park Street, Bristol in 1939

Pre-war occupation: Insurance Inspector

Date of birth: 02/10/1911

Date of death: 18/01/1945

Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at Catania War Cemetery Italy and commemorated on St Mary's church Memorial Thornbury, Thornbury Grammar School Memorial and The Maritime Regiment Memorial

Age: 33

Further information:

John was the son of a draper and the 2nd eldest of 4 children. He had 2 sisters and a younger brother. John attended Thornbury Grammar School from 1925 – 1929 where he was a prominent cricketer and football player. He won a Gloucestershire scholarship to the Merchants Venturers Technical College in Bristol where he continued his education for 12 months, then joined the Union Assurance Company in London. He returned to Bristol in 1936 and was working as an inspector in the Pearl Insurance Company until 1939.

John joined the Royal Artillery in 1940, the same year that he married Frances Winifred Pockson, a shorthand typist, in Bristol. In 1943 he joined the Maritime Regiment whose headquarters were in Thornbury during WW2.
John died from heart disease at the Military Hospital '33 British General Hospital' in Catania Sicily. It is likely that he arrived in Sicily whilst serving on board a merchant vessel and may then have been taken ill. John’s younger brother Eric who was in the RAF was also killed during WW2.

Regiment: 6 Maritime Regiment R.A.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

With kind permission of Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the Second World Stories Project.
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/
Thornbury Roots - http://www.thornburyroots.co.uk/high-street/43-high-street/#stanley