Marsden, John - Sapper

(No soldier photo available)

860 Mechanical Equipment Coy.

Royal Engineers

Died 28 June 1942

Age 26

Sapper John Marsden died in a Field Dressing Station in Syria from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident during Army manoeuvres.

John was the son of Arthur and Beatrice Marscen of Accrington and the husbanc_ of Margaret of Haslingden. He was aged 26. Before John joined the Army he worked as a butcher in Accrington, but later worked at Messrs. Lang Bridges engineering works in Accrington.

John is buried in Aleppo War Cemetery, Syria. The cemetery was created in 1941 by the British military authorities. In.addition to the original burials, more were brought in from scattered graves in areas where fighting had occurred, and from two French cemeteries. There are now 114 war graves. John lies in Plot 2, Row A, Grave 4.

N.B. In 1941 Syria was controlled by a French government which sympathised with the proGerman French regime based at Vichy, France. On 8 June 1941 Syria was invaded by a combined force of British, Australian and 'Free French' troops. The Vichy French surrendered on 11 July 1941. There were 2,500 Allied and 3,500 Vichy French casualties.