Private - 13th (South Lancashire) Parachute Regiment, the Prince of Wales Volunteers - Service No. 7948097
Roger Lovell was born on 28th June 1923 in Gravesend, Kent. His father was Bertram Lovell, a Solicitor, and his mother was Gladys (née Moore). The first school that he attended was Woodville Prep School in Gravesend.
In 1931 he moved to The County School for Boys – now known as Gravesend Grammar School. The Head Master at that time was the Reverend Samuel Lister. The County School for Boys was located in Darnley Road, Gravesend close to the Railway Station (now the Victoria Centre for Education). In 1938 the School moved to brand new premises in Church Walk, Milton, Gravesend opposite to Milton Church.
The School’s Admission Register lists Roger’s address as 157 Darnley Road, Gravesend. Whilst at the School, Roger was in Hill House and was a Prefect in 1939-40. In September 1939 Roger accompanied the School when it was evacuated to Shipmeadow, which was between Beccles and Bungay on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. Two younger brothers also attended the School, Christopher (born 1928) and Laurence (born 1931).
In 1940 Roger left the School and started work in the National Westminster Bank. He first enlisted in the Royal Armoured Corps in 1941, but transferred to the Parachute Regiment as a Private, Service Number 7948097. He joined the 13th (South Lancashire) Parachute Regiment, the Prince of Wales Volunteers in 1943.
On 6th June 1944, D-Day, Roger landed by glider in Ranville, France as part of Operation Overlord. He was injured in August and was sent back to Britain to recover. In the Winter of 1944-45, Roger took part in the 6th Airborne deployment to the Ardennes, parachuting in on Christmas Eve. He was mortally injured on the 2nd day of the Battle of Bure, when his Battalion HQ was hit by a shell. Roger Lovell died at a Field Station in Ciney on the 5th January 1945, age 21. He is buried at Hotton War Cemetery, Belgium.
Roger Lovell was in the same Form as Eric Harding, who was also Killed in Action in World War Two.
There are links below to Newspaper Clippings and Photographs from the Gravesend Grammar School Archives.
Below are links to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and a few other websites that might be of interest:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2726582/lovell,-roger/
https://www.paradata.org.uk/people/roger-lovell