Corporal James Whitaker, 46RM Commando 'S' troop kia 11th June 1944 Rots and le Hamel .

[Photo courtesy of Jeff Hewitt].

Jeff Hewitt adds "Jimmie Whitaker is seen having dug a trench in the garden of his parents house during his leave whilst based on the Isle of Wight". Jeffs's father Sgt. Harry Hewitt of 'S' troop was at his side when Cpl. Whitaker died and gave this account.
"I joined the 9th Battalion Royal Marines from the police force, PC116 Oxfordshire Constabulary, and done my basic training and Commando training at Achnacarry together with Jimmie Whitaker. We have become inseparable friends so it is a simple matter during our later training on the Isle of Wight that we formed the Commando partnership of 'Me and My Pal'. We have entered the village of Le Hamel and are flushing Germans out of the houses. We chase a couple of them down a very narrow lane and they go through a gap in a stone wall. Jimmie seems in a great hurry to get there first before me and as he goes through he receives a blast from a machine-gun. Some said later it was a sniper. It happened near the square where the 46RMC memorial stands today."

In Memory of CH/X 102296 Corporal James Whitaker
46RM Commando, Royal Marines 'S' troop
who died on the 11th June 1944 at Rots and Le Hamel
Remembered with honour at Bayeux War Cemetery.