• Casualty list, 4th Bn. The Dorsetshire Regiment, Operation Market Garden

Date of birth:

September 14th, 1915 (Wellingborough/Northamptonshire, England)

Date of death:

September 26th, 1944 (Oosterbeek/Gelderland, The Netherlands)

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Grave Vianen
Plot: III. Row: 1. Grave: 17.

Service number:

5888620

Nationality:

British (1801-present, Kingdom)

Rank held during Operation Market Garden:
Private

MISSING 25.9.1944, MIA 25.9.1944.

Biography:

According to the War Office records Pte Goodman was presumed killed in action. His body was recovered from the river Lek near Vianen on 6 October 1944.

Jack Goodman was born on 14 September 1915 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England. He worked in a shoe operative making room. He married Gwendoline Irene Wallinger in 1942.

Husband of Gwendoline Irene Goodman (maiden name Wallinger), of Wollaston, Northamptonshire.
Report concerning the paratrooper J. Goodman

On Friday morning, October 6, 1944, M.P.H. van der Giessen — a military police officer — who was patrolling along the so-called head of the canal near the River Lek, saw a corpse floating down the river from the direction of Culemborg.
He immediately alerted the German troops stationed near the river as well as the head of the MP, Hoofdwachtmeester G.J. Huisman who arrived at the site soon. In the presence of an officer and the person mentioned above, the soldiers dragged the corpse from the water and laid it in a ditch near the river, shaded from the sun. Based on the uniform and the dog tag found on the body, it was identified as a British paratrooper named J. Goodman, M.O.E.T.H./5/888620. In the afternoon at around 18:00 hours, the remains were placed in a coffin — made available by the municipal authorities — by 4 soldiers, supervised by the officer and Huisman as well as by burgomaster Grunek and the undersigned.
Subsequently, the body was transferred by hearse to the general cemetery at Vianen. The hearse was followed by the burgomaster mentioned before, officer Huisman and the undersigned. From the river Lek to the cemetery, the cortege drove through the Voorstraat and when passing various groups of people lining the route, the men lifted their hats in honor. The coffin was stored in the mortuary located at the graveyard.
On Saturday morning, October 7, at around 10 a.m. the burial service took place with military honors to which the officer mentioned earlier and officer Huisman had been invited in order to witness the ceremony. When asked by officer Huisman whether other civilians could be allowed to attend, he answered that apart from the mayor or other officials, no one else would be admitted except the grave digger.
The corpse was buried with military honors in the presence of those mentioned above and some twenty military personnel below the rank of non-commissioned officer. As the coffin was lowered in to the grave, arms were presented. The officer then held a fiery speech, calling on his subordinates to pay the greatest honor and respect especially to this soldier, who had left his home land to fight for his own and another country in a strange land. He concluded the ceremony by saying the prayer 'Our Father'.
On leaving the cemetery, the officer asked Mr. Van der Giessen to see to it that a cross be placed on the grave, inscribed with the name of this fallen hero.
V i a n e n, March 29, 1946,
The city clerk
J van Loo [sic]

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• - Regionaal Archief Zuid-Utrecht, Toegang 415 Gemeentebestuur Vianen 1930-1985, Inv.1933.
  - Casualty Lists - Other Ranks 1575(29), 1880(3)
  - CWGC Casualty details
  - ‘"Roll of Honour" Battle of Arnhem September 1944’ 5th revised edition 2011, compiled by J A Hey
  - Bas van Wiggen, ‘Een Britse soldaat in Viaanse bodem’, Historical Society Het Land van Brederode 44 (2020) no. 1 (October), pp. 23-27.
  - England & Wales Births 1837-2006
  - 1939 Register
  - England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005
  

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