16968, Sergeant, “B” Company. 1st Bedfordshire Regiment.
Died Of Wounds on the 3rd September 1916 aged 28 .
Charles was the son of David & Sarah Parker of Frogmore Hall, Watton At Stone.
He arrived in France on the 22nd December 1914. On the evening of 2nd September 1916 the Battalion was positioned in Silesia Trench near the village of Maricourt in the Somme sector of the Western Front when a German artillery shell burst on the parapet of the trench. An officer stated that they shell was not of any type they had seen before in that it formed no crater and burned with a reddish light. Nine men of “B” Company were wounded by the resulting explosion including Charles Parker. Although evacuated to a Casualty Clearing Station he died the following day, as a result of his injuries.
He is buried in the Dive Copse British Cemetery, Somme, France. (2.H.19.)
Medal Entitlement: 1915 Star, British War Medal & Victory Medal