Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Date Information
20/03/2020 The CWGC record Private James Wesley Trotter as the Son of James B and Fanny J Trotter of Armagh, Northern Ireland.
20/03/2020 Private James Wesley Trotter is commemorated locally on Moy War Memorial.
20/03/2020 Private James Wesley Trotter has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel 18 of the Bayeux War Memorial.
20/03/2020 It seems Private James Wesley Trotter should be listed as serving with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles (6th Airborne Division).
20/03/2020 As the 5th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment did not serve in Normandy, it could be that the error in the records is a typographical error (and could have meant to state either: one of the battalions that did serve in Normandy - 7, 8, 9, 12, 13; or should have stated 5th Parachute Brigade - instead of Battalion). Alternatively, his records had been lost or damaged and it has been assumed he was serving with the Parachute Regiment.
20/03/2020 The Royal Ulster Rifle unit history 'The Rifles are Here' record him as Rifleman James Wesley Trotter in the Roll of Honour for 1 Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles. This Roll of Honour also states that he was killed while serving with the '5th Parachute Battalion'. A detail that it is assumed has been taken from the Commonwealth War Grave Commission records.
20/03/2020 The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records state his unit as 5th Battalion, Parachute Regiment, However, 5 Battalion, Parachute Battalion did not serve in Normandy.
20/03/2020 Private Trotter was hit by small arms fire during a mission and, at that time, it had not been possible to evacuate him from the action. Private Trotter was 20 years old.
20/03/2020 Private James Wesley Trotter was serving with the 5th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, when he died on 7th July 1944. He was initially reported as wounded and missing.
20/03/2020 Reports suggest his parents lived at Grangemore, Armagh.
20/03/2020 James Trotter was born about 1924.
20/03/2020 James Wesley Trotter was the son of James B and Fanny J Trotter.
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