Name
John Eric Hannam
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
16/02/1945
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
320072
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
attd. 5th Bn. Dorsetshire Regiment
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
REICHSWALD FOREST WAR CEMETERY
56. F. 1.
Germany
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School Memorial (WW2), Letchworth War Memorial
Biography
He was born in north London and attended the Hitchin Grammar School from 1930-1936. A quiet capable boy, he secured Honours in the School Certificate, passed into the sixth form, gained a prefect's cap and by examination secured a position with the London County Council. Later he joined the Civil Service and in 1937 was employed in the Import Duty Office in Shell-Mex House in London.
In 1939 he was living in Hampshire according to the ‘Army Roll of Honour’ and joined the Royal Artillery and later transferred to the 151 Commando Regiment bearing the Service Number 320072. He saw service in the Tunisian campaign and by October 1944 had moved to Northwest Europe at which time he held a commission in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment.
He was killed on active service whilst attached to the 5th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment. This Regiment was involved in numerous actions in the Holland/German border area prior to the Rhine crossings.
He was buried in Plot 56, Row F, Grave 1 in the Reichwald Forest War Cemetery in Germany. He was killed on the 16th February 1945 aged about 25 years.
He left a wife, a ten month old daughter and a son. His widow died in 1995.
He was the only son of Mr E.B. Hannam and the late Mrs Hannam of 118, Icknield Way, Letchworth.
A photograph of him appears in the Citizen Newspaper dated 2nd March 1945.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Hitchin Grammar School Chronicle, Paul Johnson - local historian, Citizen Newspaper dated 2nd March 1945
