- Contributed by听
- Barry Ainsworth
- People in story:听
- Ron Ashmore
- Location of story:听
- Theatre Of War
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A6667266
- Contributed on:听
- 04 November 2005
Ron Ashmore
I Was No Hero
It is the odd things that stick in Ron Ashmore's mind.
As part of a group of Airborne troops held up a few miles from Arnhem, Holland, where one of the Second World War's most ferocious battles was fought in September, 1944, Ron had to dig in near to a nice house.
"I asked the lady who lived there if I could borrow her spade and she let me have it, but asked us to be careful of her vegetables.
"Anyway, the next day after a German bombardment she didn't have a house left. I know it's not really funny, but we did find a sort of gallows humour in the situation," he said.
Ron, from Belmont, near Bolton, was a Sergeant in the 7th Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, 1st Airborne Division.
Not a paratrooper, Ron was glider-borne.
On the first day of Operation Market Garden, the supposedly difficult landing went well.
"We were a bit scattered but rallied to the sound of the Piper.
We were the first to land.
Our job was to clear the ground for the Paras, otherwise they would just get shot as they floated down.
"Of course it all went wrong because of the Panzers.
Just plain bad luck that they were in the area.
Airborne land with just light weapons, a few mortars, hardly any food and just enough ammunition that you can carry.
"The idea was to hold the area, get reinforced by the Paras, march to Arnhem and then hang on for the ground troops' breakthrough.
"Of course we ended up fighting from the moment we landed.
We fought as far as Oosterbeek.
It was dirty house to house fighting and we were held there.
We weren't going anywhere, not against tanks. "We weren't heroes, we were tough and we were well trained, and we did the job they asked us to do and then some.
They told us to hang on for three days. We were there for nine, but heroes?
"What is a hero anyway? I came back home and worked in the bleachworks.
The War, Holland, was a very long time ago, but still sometimes, in the night, I think about it," he said.
Ron Ashmore
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