George Benjamin Warnes

Lance Bombadier - Service No. 1735692 - 39th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery

George Benjamin Warnes was born on 12th July 1920 in Swardeston, Norfolk, the son of John Warnes and his wife Rosa (Gooderham). John and Rosa were step brother and sister and had married in 1913, setting up home in Swardeston, by the Common, shortly before John went off to fight in WW1. John's WW1 story and how the Warnes and Gooderham families came together is told in the WW1 section of this website. George had an older brother Kenneth (1914) and sister Stella (1917).

John Warnes died at Swardeston in 1937 leaving his widow Rosa and their three grown-up children living at No.8 Wood Lane next door to the Parfitt family at No7 which included Herbert Parfitt and son Jack who figure in the WW1 and WW2 sections of this website respectively.  

George Benjamin Warnes joined the army and undertook basic infantry training as well as training on anti aircraft weapons, mainly the Bofors 40mm weapon before being posted to the 39th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment who were preparing to go overseas. Initially the regiment travelled to Algiers before moving to Tunisia where they served as part of the 1st Army. Following the collapse of the German army in North Africa the 39th prepared to move to Italy and finally sailed on Christmas Eve 1943. The Regiment spent some time at an airfield on the Foggian plains before, in May 1944, being attached to the American 5th Army. By the middle of 1944 the Allies dominated the skies over southern Italy and in August the 39th were ordered to leave their Bofors guns behind and go into the front line as infantry troops where their early training stood them in good stead.

In December 1944 the Regiment made it to Rome but sadly without George who died on 27th October 1944. He was buried in an unmarked grave on the battlefield (at map reference 22/GRU/2174/2/LH) but was exhumed, identified by his identity disc and re-buried in the Florence War Cemetry, Plot VIII, Row G, Grave 9 on June 5th 1945. There is some confusion as to how George died in that the Royal Artillery Other Ranks Casualty Card for Lance Bombardier 1735692 George Benjamin Warnes says "Died Battle Casualty" in Italy on the 27th October 1944 while the official Casualty List says "Died result of Accident". Whatever the truth of the matter George died just a matter of weeks before the 39th Light A. A. Regiment was disbanded in January 1945.

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