6285440 Sgt. Frank Herbert CHESSON, 10 Parachute Regiment: 19/09/1944, pre-war Palestine

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by Chesson, Feb 27, 2013.

  1. Chesson

    Chesson Junior Member

    Hi, Can anyone give me some information on my great uncle Sgt. F.H.Chesson 6285440 4 para 10th Battalion. Did his training in Palestine.

    Previously he was up the desert & Italy.

    Frank was KIA 19-09-1944 at the 6km marker outside Arnhem.:poppy:

    Picture 1/ Although there are only seven crosses, the Graves Registration records show nine bodies were recovered from this spot.

    Picture 2 shows Frank.

    Picture 3 , The Graves Registration records show nine bodies were recovered from this spot. Only 4 of which could be identified. Sgt F H Chesson, L Cpl W R M Secrett, Pte A Lishman who were all of the 10th Parachute Battalion and Sgt B Huxley of B-Sqn, G.P.R. after being ambushed with a 20mm cannon. You can see the damage the 20mm cannon did to 6km marker.

    Thanks Shaun.
     

    Attached Files:

    Pieter F likes this.
  2. airborne medic

    airborne medic Very Senior Member

    Hi and welcome to the forum....I've heard that the records from No 4 PTS are at Brize Norton but not easy to access.....I will check to see if he went through Ringway also...the men from the No 4 PTS for reasons that are not clear were felt not to be up to scratch and so went round again....In theory there may be some books out on the 10th Btn later but the only real one at the moment is the Tenth by Bramall...this may give you some background info.....Regretfully there are not many vets left around from the 10th who may recall your great uncle.....But I'll ask....
     
    rodbender likes this.
  3. Chesson

    Chesson Junior Member

    Thank you very much, much appreciated.

    Frank is on the airborne assault web site where I borrowed the 1st & 3rd pictures. Is it polite to add a link back? :confused:

    Apparently Franks medals can be seen at Airborne Assault - The Museum of The Parachute Regiment Airborne Assault is situated within the Airspace Hanger of the Imperial War Museum Duxford. They used to be at Aldershot.

    Search | ParaData FH Chesson

    Thank you once again for your help

    Shaun
     
  4. airborne medic

    airborne medic Very Senior Member

    Shaun,

    Thanks...I act as a volunteer helper for Duxford and numerous articles on Paradata have been done by me....Paradata is well known to many here and I think a link back may be useful in one respect in straight to his page but not so for the 'anoraks'.....!!!!!
     
    rodbender likes this.
  5. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    From the Sanguinius set on Flikr.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Chesson

    Chesson Junior Member

    Thank you airborne medic :)

    I am quite amazed how people manage to find things out. All I have managed to do so far is find more questions than answers LOL :D

    All The information I have is on another post on this site under the heading: Did any of your family serve during ww2, if so what did they do? page 40.



    Thank you once again

    Shaun :)
     
  7. Chesson

    Chesson Junior Member

    Thank you Ramacal :)

    Very nice picture. Is it ok if I save it to my computer please :unsure:

    Thank you once again

    Shaun:)
     
    rodbender likes this.
  8. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    I don't have a problem Shaun.

    Here also are Lishman, Secrett and Huxley that you mentioned in your first post.

    Regards - Rob

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Chesson

    Chesson Junior Member

    Thank you Rob :)
     
  10. arnhem2280

    arnhem2280 Member

    Frank Chesson was on Para Cse 22 which commenced on 11/2/43 at Kabrit.

    Hope this helps

    Cheers

    Arnhem
     
    rodbender likes this.
  11. Chesson

    Chesson Junior Member

    Yes it does Arnhem. :)

    Thank you.

    Shaun :)
     
  12. Chesson

    Chesson Junior Member

    Frank Chesson was on Para Cse 22 which commenced on 11/2/43 at Kabrit.

    Hope this helps

    Cheers

    Arnhem

    I have very little confirmed information about Frank, most of it is just what the family think :unsure:

    I have been looking for several years and found very little out about Frank, I have probably found out / been sent more information on this site than anywhere else.

    I am very grateful to you all for your help

    Shaun.
     
    Grahame likes this.
  13. Chesson

    Chesson Junior Member

    I have a bit more information. Frank was in 4 Platoon, A Company along with his best friend Sgt. Frank Bennett who was killed at DZ Y along with Lt. Patrick Mackey.

    Frank B & Frank C were apparently known as Barmy Bennett & cranky Frankie :D

    I am still trying to draw all the threads of my mother & fathers family’s together.

    I think there is a book amongst all this.

    My father was a young lad of about 7 at the time of the battle of Britain, they moved 3 times during the war.
    His father Sida (George) was too old for army service plus had a reserved occupation (much to his disgust) appears in Doddingtons home guards photos although he was not a member of the home guard. Sida did however disappear for a week or so at a time.

    My Father Tony & his elder brother Donald used to have a look at all the stuff Sida had hidden around the farm.... Churchill’s army?

    They were under the flight path of the Germans when they were bombing Detling. ME109 shot down and glided down into a turnip field, dad and his mates stood talking to the pilot who sat on the wing & smoked a cigarette & said Kaput run out of fuel.

    Later in the war Moirés camped in the farms back yard (Pleasant Place), Then POW worked on the farm.

    Then there was Len Chesson who had a less than conventional view of the Army.

    Sorry for rambeling on :rolleyes:
     
  14. Paul Pariso

    Paul Pariso Very Senior Member

    Hi Shaun,

    Please forgive me if this is old news to you but there is a book due out later this year (hopefully) about 10 Para, by a guy named Grahame Warner.

    All the best :)
     
    rodbender likes this.
  15. Chesson

    Chesson Junior Member

    Thank you for the heads up Paul, I will have to buy the book. :)

    I was thinking more of my Fathers war. That is why I need to find out / be as factual as I can about the family's.
     
  16. rodbender

    rodbender Junior Member

    Hiya ,
    My great uncle, I belive was in the buffs before the war & was a policeman in Palestine, is this possible?
    Also he joinded 4 para in Palestine in 1942.
    Did he keep his origin buffs number 6285440 or was he given another one?

    I can find information about Arnhem but very little else. What i know is he was Sgt. F. H. Chesson and jumped on the second day. He was a squad leader and was killed near the pumping station. His and 8 other bodys were moved round to the 6 mile arnhem marker. There is a picture in one of the German propaganda leaflet Das Searchlight & It never snows in September.
    If it helps with the TANK BIAS, he was up against SS 10th Panza
     
  17. rodbender

    rodbender Junior Member

    Hiya ,
    My great uncle, I belive was in the buffs before the war & was a policeman in Palestine, is this possible?
    Also he joinded 4 para in Palestine in 1942.
    Did he keep his origin buffs number 6285440 or was he given another one?

    I can find information about Arnhem but very little else. What i know is he was Sgt. F. H. Chesson and jumped on the second day. He was a squad leader and was killed near the pumping station. His and 8 other bodys were moved round to the 6 mile arnhem marker. There is a picture in one of the German propaganda leaflets Das Searchlight & the book It never snows in September.
    If it helps with the TANK BIAS, he was up against SS 10th Panza

    Thank you for looking at this thread.
     
  18. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Have spoken to Mods in an attempt to delete one of your threads as they are both the same

    To find out more about your relation you really need to obtain his service records before you go any further, and these records can ONLY be obtained from the MOD the forms are here Request records of deceased service personnel

    TD
     
    Tony56 likes this.
  19. harkness

    harkness Well-Known Member

    Wounded 1942:
    Chesson_01.jpg

    Chesson_02.jpg

    Chesson_03.jpg
     
  20. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    For the record:
    Casualty
    Serjeant CHESSON, FRANK HERBERT
    Service Number 6285440
    Died 19/09/1944
    Aged 30
    10th Bn. The Parachute Regiment, A.A.C.
    Buried at ARNHEM OOSTERBEEK WAR CEMETERY
    Location: Gelderland, Netherlands
    Cemetery/memorial reference: 6. C. 18.

    As you can see from CWGC and from Casualty lists posted by Harkness, he kept 6285440. This would have been normal procedure.

    Army Number Block Allocations
    " The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) 6278001 - 6334000 "

    Good luck with your research.

    In order to avoid confusion I merged your identical threads.
     
    rodbender, rodbender, Tony56 and 3 others like this.

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