Fireman killed as a result of an air raid on Plaistow Road, E15 on 19 March 1941.
Fireman Leslie John Palmer was born on 3 January 1910 in Penge, Kent, the 4th son of George Walter Palmer (b. 1869) and Eva Sarah Palmer née Fenn (b.1873). His father was a Billiard Table Manufacturer. The 1911 census shows him living at Hatfield House, 78 Parkfield Road, Penge, with his parents, three brothers: Basil James George Palmer (1901-1961), Raymond William Frederick Palmer (1903-1990), Horace Walter Palmer (1905-1977) and a female servant. Another brother, Rupert Charles Palmer (1911-1994), was born on 5 October 1911.
He married Doris Maude Clarke (1909-2005) in 1938 in Bromley, Kent, and the 1939 England and Wales register shows them living at 16 Lawrence Road, West Wickham, Kent. His occupation was recorded as a warehouse manager road transport and his wife was a dressmaker's manageress.
He joined the Auxiliary Fire Service and was attached to the Coney Hall Auxiliary Fire Station, West Wickham. He was killed, aged 31 years, on 19 March 1941, together with four other colleagues who were aboard a pump, one of a convoy, that was travelling to a fire in Silvertown and that was obliterated in a land-mine explosion in Plaistow Road, West Ham. He and his four colleagues were buried in a communal grave in the St John the Baptist Churchyard, Layhams Road, West Wickham, BR4 9HN.
He is also commemorated in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939-1945 located outside St George's Chapel at the west end of Westminster Abbey. His name is also shown on the National Firefighters Memorial, Sermon Lane, London, EC4 and in the Firefighters Memorial Trust's Book of Remembrance.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
