Claude Ellerington
Date of death: 24.3.1945
Area: Knottingley
Regiment: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Family information: Son of Tom and Gertrude Ellerington nee Bagley
Rank: Sergeant
Service number: 1675640
War Service
Sergeant (Pilot) Claude Ellerington RAFVR was in the Glider Pilot Branch. He was killed on 24th March 1945 aged 20 during Operation Varsity when many casualties were unaccounted for and simply recorded as Missing in Action.
Considered the greatest airborne operation of the war, Operation Varsity was an allied air attack by parachute and glider to breach the Rhine and aid those on the ground involved in the ground-based operation known as Plunder. More than 16,000 American, British and Canadian paratroopers came together to help the ground forces and secure important land surrounding the Rhine, with airborne troops landing close to troops on the ground. 1,348 gliders took part in this operation and casualties sustained were 19 killed and 240 wounded.
Claude Ellerington was buried at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordhein, Westfalen, Germany.
Family Life
Claude was born in the fourth quarter of 1924 and his birth was registered at Pontefract. He was the son of Tom Ellerington and Gertrude (nee Bagley) who had married on 8th June 1912 at Christ Church, Knottingley.
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery
