Donald Albert Parsons was born in 1921, the younger son of William Parsons (b. circa 1887) and Lucy Jane Parsons, née Paul (1888-1972). His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1921 in the St. Pancras Registration District, London.
When the 1921 census was taken on 19 June 1921, just a few months before he was born it showed his parents and his elder brother, William Thomas Parsons (1915-1979), residing in three rooms at 76 George Street, St Pancras, London. His father described himself a carriage cleaner employed by the London and North Western Railway Company at Granby Street, Euston, London.
Electoral registers show that the family continued living at 76 George Street, St Pancras, until 1937 when they moved to 162 Gower Street, London, NW1.
He was appointed as a Postman in the London Postal Region on 7 June 1939 and was confirmed in this position on 3 June 1940.
He enlisted in the Queens Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) Royal Armoured Corps, Service Number 7943400 and died on 25 October 1942, aged 21 years. He is was initially buried near where he fell, but on 12 March 1943 his body was exhumed and reburied in Plot 17, Row H, Collective Grave 19 in the El Alamein War Cemetery, El Alamein, Mersa Matruh, Egypt.
He is shown as 'PARSONS D.A.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Timenote website and on page 196 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1939-1949.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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