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It was a relief when darkness fell but we were soon under attack again. This time two enemy tanks came along the road. They fired at both sides of the road, although none of the buildings opposite were unoccupied, the tanks continued firing as they moved past us and started firing at the only other building by our forces on the opposite side of the road. Although we didn’t know who they were , after each attack we would shout out our old North African battle cry, ‘Wahoo Mahomet.’

The following enemy infantry were easy targets as burning buildings illuminated the whole area although by now, owing to the involvement of the tanks we were now engaging the enemy from the cellar.

When we returned to our position as daylight broke the latest casualties were taken to the cellar. We still expected that we would be relieved; the room which Malley and I had occupied had been completely destroyed by the tanks. ‘Boxer’ had set up the wireless again on the stairs. Ammunition was now getting short, the extra ‘B’ Troop had brought on the trolley was nearly exhausted.

As I looked into one of the rooms, I saw Major Lewis, his face lathered, having a shave. Later on that day in a minor attack he was wounded and Malley and I carried him down to the cellar.

By midday it was obvious we could not hold out and when armour started to appear Captain Mackay gave the order to pull out and make our way to the 2nd Battalion position. ‘A’ troops Bren was still covering the ramp and footpath and was manned by Cpl ‘Canadian’ Joe Simpson. He had already been awarded the American Silver Star and British Mentioned in dispatches during the North African Campaign. He was supported by Sapper Johnny Bretherton from St Helens, Lancashire.

The road was still covered by ‘B’ Troops Bren manned by L/Cpl Danny ‘Paddy’ Neville who came from Southern Ireland, he was supported by Sapper Steve Carr, a Scot.

Getting the badly wounded from the cellar was difficult, so we carried them up on mattresses and then transferred them onto doors. During the evacuation we used side door which was out of view of the enemy. We encountered a problem as there was a high wall covering the side of the school, which with the combined weight of the door and the wounded man made it very hard work. It tool four men to get them over the wall.

The pull out was quite orderly and Lt Simpson’s final orders to Malley and me were to destroy the remaining weapons. The last man to get wounded was the man who had been wounded in the first attack. oNe of the men carrying him was Johnny Bretherton who was killed, he had only nine minutes before come down from his Bren position. Another one of ‘B’ Troop, Norman Butterworth, was mortally wounded caring for the wounded.

I could hear the Bren still engaging the enemy when the whole building shook. Malley and I were covered in debris and I was completely deaf and had difficulty in breathing and it took some time to clear. The roof was completely gone.

Malley and I made our way through the rubble and we found Steve Carr bleeding from his nose, mouth and ears so we moved him into the garden.

We could see two tanks on the ramp and they had now turned their attention to the house opposite. We started pulling the rubbish and found Joe Simpson as we pulled him clear he was still grasping the Bren. I carried his upper body and Malley his feet and laid him on the stairs. I took his helmet off but it was obvious he was dead. We then went to find Danny Neville but there was so much debris we were unable to find him. Whilst we were searching Eric Mackay returned to the building with the news that the main party had been captured. He suggested that we should cross the road and make our own way through the rear garden to 2nd Battalion. First we sheltered in the building previously occupied by ‘A’ Troop, which was by now just a shell. We had decided to cross the road one at a time and I was the first to cross. As I ran into the rear garden I ran into a party of the enemy. They were engrossed in their tanks destroying the houses and did not see me and I fired a quick burst. They dived for cover and did not return fire. I quickly made my way forward but could see Captain Mackay or Malley and decided not to wait for them and quickly ran in the other direction to make my way out of the garden. I had only gone about 50 yards when I saw a strong force of enemy who were searching the houses. I lay behind the garden wall and the first of the enemy passed me and indicated to me to stand up. As they marched me back towards the building that had been occupied by the unit we had been shouting at ‘Wahoo Mahomet’ at. I saw Lt Barnett who was badly wounded being supported by one of his men. They were from Brigade Defence Platoon who we had worked with on many occasions. The other man told me that as well as the Defence Platoon, some of HQ of 1 squadron fought in the building.

It was while he was talking to me that one of the escorts hit me with a rifle on the back, he was instantly reprimanded by an officer. He told me to take my hands off of my head and called a man who could speak English. The first words he spoke were ‘do you need medical attention?’ I was bleeding from the mouth from my old boxing wounds and my clothes were blooded from those we had been carrying apart from a few burns on my legs, I was not wounded.

The interpreter indicated for me to stay with the wounded. We were loaded onto lorries, the floors of which were covered with straw and I stayed with them for 2 days. I was able to help feed the badly wounded then I and a slightly wounded 2nd Battalion man who was able to tell me what had happened to the rest of the Squadron. One section had gone to Rollaway Bridge with the ‘C’ Company, the remainder of the troop had with our HQ troop, fought on the other side of the ramp and had been responsible for destroying the pill-box on the Bridge. Only the two injured men had failed to reach the Bridge.

It has taken me over 60 years to record these events. To place on record four of my comrades who sacrificed their lives for their comrades. They were

Cpl. Joe (Canadian) Simpson
L/Cpl Danny (paddy) Nevill
Sapper Johnny Bretherton
Sapper Norman Butterworth

They were in their twenties and three of them had children, which made their sacrifice even greater.
I did not return to Arnhem for 15 years.
I could not trace the farm or the lad that helped us or any of the Dutch party I took to 2nd Battalion.

In 1946 I met Steve Carr who was still serving in the Army. He said the shell burst had hurt his lungs but otherwise he had not been wounded.

I also met Joe Malley and I asked him why he did not follow me across the road. He said both he and Eric Mackay only heard one burst of fire and thought that I had been hit and decided to cross at a different point.

I was able to find out who the American was. His name was Sgt Carl Scott and he was a member of the Jedburgh Team. He managed to escape from Arnhem, but was killed in the Ardennes in December 1944.

It was some years later I found out that Joe Simpson was not a Canadian. He had been born in Tavistock in Devon but returned to England, from Canada, at the outbreak of the war.

I do not know what happened to the Dutch men I took to the 2nd Battalion on the first day or the party of young Dutch youths.

It is ironic that the bodies of Danny and those buried in the remainder of the school, and to whom it was not a ‘Bridge too Far’, have never been found. Their names are not shown at Oosterbeek or Arnhem but are miles way at Nijmegen. This is something I would like to be corrected.

In 1963 I met Major Lewis when we were invited to the War Office in London. Amongst those present were Lt/Col John Frost and the German General Wilhelm Bittrich.

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