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The following story appears courtesy of and with thanks to Gord and Leslie Davison.

Reveille, as usual, came much quicker than I though it should. After all it was only 6 AM and we not taking off until somewhere around 11 AM. Army, "Hurry up and wait". After breakfast we paraded at 8:30 dressed in full battle gear and were told to stand easy. After about ten minutes we were told to fall out but not to leave the area. We lounged around for about an hour, doing the things soldiers do best, telling tall stories about recent girl conquests.
Finally dozens of 3-ton Bedford trucks lined up on the parade ground and we started to embark. Our destination was Grantham; about forty miles away, where there was a large airfield presently occupied by the U.S. Airforce. Ah' Ah' the veterans said we are going with the Yanks again. This was a reference to the time when they flew from North Africa to Sicily with U.S. Aircrews and quite a few of them were dumped in the sea.
There were literally dozens of Dakotas all lined up in rows with their engines idling. We were assigned to specific planes immediately and started to emplane. There was much banter and horseplay as we were emplaning and in retrospect, I think it was to offset the natural nervousness we all felt. None of us, of course, would admit that we were nervous and the horseplay was a cover-up.
With a total of about 30,000 allied troops being airlifted from Britain to Holland within 24 hours, roughly 60% parachutists and 40% glider-borne plus the attendant fighter cover you can imagine the congestion in the skies that Sunday afternoon.
Third battalion was in one of the leading formations and for some time after becoming airborne, we circled until the rest of our flight joined us. With the formation complete we headed in the direction of Holland and it was an absolutely awe-inspiring sight to look out of the aircraft windows and see a never ending line of planes, six abreast, with the fighters weaving in and out like mother hens.
Each Dakota contained a "Stick" of twenty men and, all of whom carried, in addition to their personal kit and firearms, a kit bag or some other container. These would contain ammunition, food packs and in my case, a kit bag full of medical supplies. These containers were strapped to the soldiers leg so they would be hands free whilst in the air. This was necessary so that he could control the drift of his parachute with the lift straps. About a hundred feet from the ground the container would be released and would drop suspended from the soldier's waist belt by a 20-foot line.

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