John Barkley

This story is shared by the Trust with kind permission from Mavis Williams, Researcher.

John Barkley was the son of Michael and Harriet Barkley of South field, Cape Province, South Africa. He was born on the 26th November 1914 in Worcester, South Africa. Nothing else is known about his childhool or family but he was to posted to HMS Evolution, a shore base in the UK. He was then posted to HMS Copra and on D-Day he served in HMS Prince Charles.

He was killed in action on D-Day but there is some confusion with his service number as he is recorded with two different ones, SNAF/330688 and D/JX 193585 in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission graves concentration reports. He was allocated the latter number in the Admiralty Registers of Reports of Deaths and it is recorded against his name in the Report on Proceedings completed by the Commanding Officer, Assault Group O-4 when he was listed as one of the 21 men whose courage and devotion to duty was commended as exceptional.

British Normandy Memorial - Additional Information

Unfortunately, we do not have a photo of John Barkley or know much about his family history. If you are aware of any information, or you are related to John, we would love to hear from you so we can add to his story.