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This story was submitted to the People's War site by Bridie Wright of Wakefield Libraries and Information Services on behalf of David Hartley and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
When my Dad was packing food supplies in canisters in preparation for the Arnheim landings, busy and not looking, he passed a comment to someone stood behind him ‘don’t just stand there, give us a hand’. When he turned to look at the man, he found himself facing Major General Browning who was in charge of the air landing Brigade — incidentally, married to Daphne Du Maurier. They got into a conversation and the Major General asked my Dad about his background. When they realised they had a common friend in one Major Bob Johnson my Dad told the Major General about his narrow escape. Apparently Bob and my Dad were due to go on the D-Day landings together, but for one reason or another Dad couldn’t go. The ship Bob finally left on was torpedoed and because Bob was a light sleeper and saw the torpedo trail he jumped overboard. If my Dad had gone with them he would have been killed along with most of the ship’s company. Bob Johnson was declared Missing — Presumed Drowned and his body was never found.
Dad joined up at the age of 26 in 1940. The family were evacuated from Birmingham back to Horbury. Prior to joining up Dad worked for a company producing shells in Birmingham.
The food supplies, owing to poor communications, never reached our troops at Arnheim. The Germans may have been the recipients of both the food and some of the ammunitions. I heard that the British and the German troops were so close that the British used to put sacking cloth on their boots to deaden the footfalls and hopefully escape notice by the Germans.

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