Staff Sergeant Ken Whetton was born on 24th January 1910, the second child of Albert and Millicent Whetton. The family lived at 136 Wales Road and Albert was an Assistant Coal Mine Deputy. Kenneth enlisted in the army (service number 7518455, and served as a staff sergeant in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). He was in Crete with the Commonwealth Forces when the German army (who had captured mainland Greece in April 1941) carried out paratrooper landings on 20th May 1941. Kenneth died on the first day of that offensive and was buried in Suda Bay War Cemetery.
The Worksop Guardian reported his death on 13th June 1941:
It is with sincere regret that we have to record the death in action of Staff Sgt. Ken Whetton, R.A.M.C. which according to the official notification just received, occurred on May 20th. Mr. Whetton, who was 31 years of age, was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Whetton, 136 Wales Road, Kiveton Park, and dearly loved husband of “Johnnie”. No news has been received of how and where the unfortunate soldier met his death. Staff Sgt. Whetton, who volunteered for service, was employed as a chemist. He was educated at Kiveton Park Council School and Woodhouse Grammar School. We extend our sincere sympathy to his wife, parents and only sister Connie.
He was 31 years old and had left a wife, Esme Joan (‘Johnnie), who he had married on 20th September 1940, near Romford Essex. His wife was pregnant when Kenneth died and gave birth to a daughter a couple of months later.
He is remembered on the Wales Square memorial.
Corporal Claude Whitehouse was born in 1900 at Lichfield in Staffordshire. He was the second child of Charles Edwin and Lydia Whitehouse. Claude married Gladys in Doncaster in 1924 and a son was born the following year. He enlisted in the army (service number 13002422) and became a corporal in the Axillary Military Pioneer Corps. After the fall of Dunkirk, the troopship Lancastria left Liverpool on 14th June 1940 and arrived in the mouth of the Loire river two days later. By the following afternoon, she had embarked an unknown number of civilians and troops (estimates vary between 4000 and 9000) as part of Operation Ariel, the evacuation from western ports in France. At 15:48 on 17th June, the ship was bombed, causing three direct hits causing the ship to list first to starboard, then port and finally she rolled over and sank within 20 minutes. It is believed that there were over 4000 casualties making this the worst maritime disaster in British history. Claude Whitehouse was 40 years old and was buried in Chatelaillon-Plage Communal Cemetery, near La Rochelle in France.
He is remembered on the Wales Square memorial.