Border Regiment, 1st (Airborne) Battalion, Service no. 4615126
Born: 1st October 1923. Killed in action: 22nd September 1944, aged 20
Story
George was born in Dunholme Lincolnshire, and was the son of George William Everington (1900-1977) and Freida Clare Reed (1900-1986), who lived on Wragby Road, Lincolnshire.
George married Louisa Clayton in 1943 (pictured below), and lived with her parents in Kippax. George enlisted in Lincolnshire, and he was originally posted missing on the 26th September 1944. That afternoon, his wife Louisa gave birth to a baby, whom she named George William Everington.
George was killed at the Battle of Arnhem on 22nd September 1944, during operations with the Airbourne troops. Code-named Operation Market Garden, he was involved in a vast operation on 17th September that involved flying 10,000 paratroopers behind enemy lines. This failed operation was designed to end the War early. The plan was to take eight strategic bridges that crossed the Rhine River along the German border with the Netherlands. Three towns along the German-Dutch border were targeted: Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhem. At Arnhem, the paratroopers were left stranded, divided from their allies and unable to escape, with supplies and food running out. German tanks moved through Arnhem, torching the houses where paratroopers hid. Of the 10,000 paratroopers who participated in Operation Market Garden (below), only 2,000 returned to their units. The original plan called for paratroopers to hold the bridge at Arnhem for two days. They held it twice as long despite being outnumbered two to one. It would be another four months before the allies crossed the Rhine again and captured the German industrial heartland. Consequently, the war dragged on, costing the lives of many thousands of civilians and servicemen.
Private Everington was buried at the Oosterbeek Military Cemetery, 18 B 14.
Kippax Roll of Honour 