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My dad was a paratrooper with the 6th Airborne Division and when he was home on leave at his parent鈥檚 house on Pershore Road in Cotteridge, he told me how a bomb came through the roof of a neighbour鈥檚 house and was on their landing but didn鈥檛 explode. Everyone was very frightened and they had to be evacuated to the air raid shelter down the garden.

As a paratrooper he did many jumps and described the descent as the most wonderful feeling he鈥檇 ever had. However, on one jump into France, his parachute didn鈥檛 open fully and he landed in a tree, broke his back and spent 18 months in hospital in Nice, where they told him he would never walk again. He did though; they brought him back to England, he made a full recovery.

After the war he went to work at R.J. Hunts Iron Foundry, Pershore Road, Stirchley, Birmingham. My dad passed away aged 73 years in June 1990. He had four children and we鈥檙e all extremely proud of him and how he did whatever he had to do during the war.

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Anastasia Travers a volunteer with WM CSV Actiondesk on behalf of Penelope Howlings and has been added to the site with her permission. Penelope Howlings fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

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