大象传媒

This story is submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a member of Market Harborough Branch, Royal British Legion on behalf of Bernard Halsall, MC and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Halsall fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

A Voice from the Past
As told by Bernard Halsall, MC

It was 7.40 pm on a June evening and we were watching Coronation Street. Norris was listening to some juicy gossip when the phone rang. I do not answer the phone during Coronation Street, which is probably why I seldom get calls at other times. After a brief exchange, my wife said, handing the phone across to me: 鈥淪omeone looking for you鈥�. With some trepidation I said: 鈥淗ello, who is that?鈥�

鈥淭his is a voice from your distant past,鈥� said the voice, 鈥渢his is Harry Dent鈥�.
The picture formed immediately in my mind. Calm, resolute, reliable Harry Dent; Staff Sergeant Harry Dent; Hamilcar glider pilot Harry Dent; last seen approaching the Rhine at 4,500 feet, flying into what I later described as 鈥渋ntense flak鈥�. Later to be posted as missing.

His tug, Halifax P-T, had received a direct hit and had exploded. Harry鈥檚 glider had disappeared into the resulting ball of fire, just 100 yards in front. He had been posted as missing.

I did not recognise his voice, which I suppose was understandable. The last time we had spoken was just before 7am on the runway at RAF Woodridge. We had all flown there 2 days previously as our own base at Tarrant Rushton, in Dorset, was too far for the trips to return safely. I liked to check with my other glider pilots before take-off.

Harry told me on the phone that he had managed to release and fly through the flames, before landing some distance from the LZ, and being captured as a PoW. Months later he had been released, and on returning to Tarrant Rushton found that all his personal kit was missing and was very distressed. Demob quickly followed and he lost all contact with the regiment.

He had worked in a bank before the war, and less than a year after demob he was sent abroad to work on their behalf. It was only in 1994, on the 50th anniversary of Arnhem, that he rejoined the fold and became a member of the Glider Pilot Association鈥攁nd through that eventually found me.

Later, having recovered from the initial shock of hearing this unfamiliar voice from the distant past, I looked through some very old papers of events of these times. I found the record of take-offs for 24th March, 1945, marked 鈥淪pecial Mission鈥�, from RAF Woodridge.

Tug A-V, pulling glider 248 (which was mine) had taken-off at 0725+25 secs. Tug P-T, pulling glider 249 (which was Dent鈥檚) had been the next to take-off at 0725+50 secs. The return time for this trip was marked DNR 鈥� did not return.

And suddenly, for me, all this seemed only a few minutes ago.

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