A Saturday Night Soldier
Sergeant Stanley Parkinson Lincolnshire Regiment, Royal Pioneer Corps and Fire Service
The Man Stanley (Stan) Parkinson was born on Monday 14th June 1920 in Bucknall, Lincolnshire, son of Frederick and Rose nee Booth and was one of seven children. His religion was Church of England, and he was baptised on 22nd August, confirmed on 25th March 1936 and took his First Communion on 12th April 1936. The family lived in Chesnut Avenue, Bucknall. Following his education, Stan became a painter and decorator, and on 5th May 1939 enlisted at Horncastle into the Territorial Army 4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment (The Saturday Night Soldiers), part of the 146th Brigade and attached to the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division, with service number 4803380. He was described as being 5’.8” tall with a 35” chest, 33” waist, 14½” neck and size 7 footwear. His Battalion, together with the 5th were mobilised on 1st September 1939, following the German invasion of Poland. Sadly Stan’s Father, Frederick passed away on 4th September, the day after the British declaration of war on Germany. The 4th Battalion comprised Companies at Horncastle (B Coy), Boston (C), Alford & Spilsby (D), and Lincoln (HQ & A). After a period assisting Police and Air Raid Wardens in Scunthorpe, as this was considered a prime target for the Luftwaffe, and being on standby to go to the aid of Finland, Stan and his Regiment boarded The Empress of Australia in early April 1940 sailing to Norway as part of the Anglo French North West Expeditionary Force following the German invasion. Stan and his comrades were among the first British soldiers to come into contact against an advancing enemy in the field in the Second World War at Krogs Farm in the Inderoy Municipality. He fought in The Namsos Campaign, in Namsos and surrounding area which involved heavy fighting between Anglo-French and Norwegian naval and military forces on the one hand, and German military, naval and air forces on the other in April and early May 1940. It was one of the first significant occasions during the Second World War when British and French land forces fought the German Army. It was during this fierce fighting that Stan was wounded on 21st April, receiving gun-shot wounds to his left foot resulting in a fracture of many parts of the bones of his mid-foot.
Ill-equipped, without air support and despite moderate success in the northern parts of Norway the NWEF soon had to be evacuated following the invasion of France in May. Within a few weeks, The Lincolns were sent to garrison neutral Iceland and whilst there trained as Alpine troops until returning to the United Kingdom in 1942. On 16th February 1942 Stan transferred to the West Yorkshire Regiment an on 13th April 1943 to the Royal Pioneer Corps and promoted to War Substantive Sergeant. Stan met his future wife Eirlys Alwen Hughes (12th October 1925), who was a nurse, whilst in hospital, possibly following his gun shot wound. He remained in the UK for the remainder of the War engaged in home defence duties and at the end of the conflict awarded the 1939-45 Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45 and Efficiency Medal ‘Territorial’ the latter named to him in the Pioneer Corps. Following the war Stan resumed his work as a painter and decorator, and married Eirlys during the second quarter of 1946 in Horncastle. They had three children Anthony Stanley, Trevor William and Rosemarie Angeline (1947-1995) who emigrated to New Zealand becoming a naturalised Kiwi. As a result of the effects of the wound to his right foot, Stan received a pension of 9/6 a week, increased to 10/6 in September 1946 and awarded The King’s Badge, for members of the Armed Forces, the Merchant Navy, the Home Guard and the Civil Defence Organisations who were disabled as a result of war service. As well as his civilian occupation, Stan joined the Lindsey County Fire Brigade in July 1950 as a retained fire officer, No 1848 and based at the Woodhall Spa Station in Lincolnshire. When the English shires were established, Lindsey became part of Lincolnshire. It, and each of Kesteven and Holland, acquired the formal designation of Parts of Lincolnshire. Thus it became the administrative county of Parts of Lindsey. It was abolished on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972. Its area was divided between two new non-metropolitan counties: the northern area of Lindsey was placed in Humberside while the remainder passed to Lincolnshire. He rose to the rank of Leading Fireman and was awarded the Fire Brigade Long Service and Good conduct Medal in 1970 for 20 years service. Stan attended many incidents and in February 1973 passed a requalification First Aid Course, in 1975 a Breathing Apparatus Conversion Course and in June 1976 a Retained Officers’ Course. By now he lived with his family at 9 King Edward Crescent, Woodhall Spa. In July 1976 aged 56 Stanley retired from the Fire Service after 26 years service. At a presentation event organised in his honour in October, he was presented with a mounted axe with the badges of the old Lindsey Brigade and Lincolnshire Brigade incorporated and a shooting stick. At the ceremony, Chief Officer Mr George Moore said “The fire service would miss Stan, and that Stan would miss the service”. In response Stan thanked Mr Moore and the Woodhall lads for their kindness. He had retired, he said, due to pressure of work. He also thanked his wife Eirlys, for often waking him up following an emergency call. Eirlys was presented with a bouquet. Leading Fireman Avison said on behalf of Sub-Officer Packman “Over the years the Brigade have had a proud record, many times it has been said if one is over a minute and a half arriving at the station you only see the back end of the appliance. Never has Stan not given of his best and never at a loss as to know what as required of him”. In later life Stanley suffered from ill health and passed away at home on 13th September 1983 aged just 63, of a heart attack. Eirlys surviving him by 21 years and herself passing away on 29th October 2004 aged 80.
The King's Badge is a large silver lapel badge authorised by the Ministry of Pensions in the early part of the Second World War and initially issued to servicemen who, as a result of their injuries, had been discharged from active service. It was to be worn only on civilian clothing and by the end of 1941 over 8,000 had been awarded. Its basic purpose was to show that the wearer was a veteran. As well as members of the armed services, merchant navy and fishing fleets qualifying, by late 1944, it was also awarded to the coastguards, police, members of the Civil Defence Services, and the Home Guard. Like the better known Silver War Badge of World War I, the King's Badge included the initials GRI for Georgius Rex Imperator, in this case referring to King-Emperor George VI. The earlier badge was in the name of his father, George V. The wording around the initials was also changed from For King and Empire Services Rendered to For Loyal Service. While it did come with a certificate, the King's Badge was not serially numbered. Three versions of the badge were produced - two larger versions (approximately 1” (about 26mm) in diameter) with either a half-moon buttonhole fitting for men, or a pin and latch fitting for women: a smaller buttonhole version (approximately ¾” (19mm) in diameter) was also manufactured (a variation of this has the outside of the badge enamelled in blue). All versions were made in die-stamped metal but without any maker’s marks.
The Story The group of medals awarded to Stanley Parkinson were acquired from dealer Geoff Wright at a Stratford Upon Avon Medal Fair on 10th March 2002. They were the first set purchased after a second pause in the hobby between 1997 and 2002, largely due to a career change and house purchase. The group raised interest due to the double long service award of the Efficiency Medal and Fire Brigade Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. Despite attempts at the time to research, nothing could be found due to the common name and little additional detail. The group lay unresearched for a further 16 years until a fellow medal collector from Scotland, Jim Bishop, who had previously been very helpful with the research of another group within this collection, William Carrie Officer, made contact in March 2018. Jim explained he had looked at Stanley Parkinson’s medals on this web site in order to compare to a similar set he had. Out of curiosity, he had entered Stanley’s service number into the WW2 section of Find My Past and it revealed he had been wounded in Norway whilst with the Lincolnshire Regiment. Jim then searched for newspaper articles and found further detail of the wound which mentioned Stanley came from Bucknall, with a town name, this enabled him locate Stanley’s Birth, Marriage and Death details. This important additional detail enabled Stanley’s biography to be extended and revealed the interesting story of the 4th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment (The Saturday Night Soldiers) in the Norway Campaign of 1940. This was not the end of the story however, as it was decided to apply for Stanley Parkinson’s service records to expand on his Norwegian experience. To do this his death certificate was required and ordered. As is often the case, the certificate revealed the name of one of Stanley’s sons – Trevor Parkinson and an address. A cursory search of 192.com revealed Trevor’s telephone number and he was called in the hope he could help with research. Trevor was extremely helpful, providing not only much biographical detail but also many photographs and documents enabling a far greater biography to be compiled. Thanks to the diligence and support of a fellow ordecomedologist, Jim Bishop, and Stan’s family, another hitherto unknown man, who served his country, was wounded and went on to work as a retained Firefighter, has now been remembered for posterity.
Click here to read about the Empress of Australia
Medal Details:
- 1939-45 Star: Unnamed as awarded.
- Defence Medal: Unnamed as awarded.
- War Medal 1939-45: Unnamed as awarded.
- Fire Brigade Long Service and Good Conduct Medal: LDG FIREMAN STANLEY PARKINSON
- Efficiency Medal: 4803380 SJT. S.PARKINSON. R.P.C.
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This page last updated 21 Sep 19