大象传媒

William K Sharp
17.02.22
A Scottish Soldier

When I was seventeen I joined the Royal Engineers not expecting to be in the midst of war only months later.

The winter of 1941 saw me in Tobruk and Taranto. I joined the Airborne Brigade in Egypt. I found parachuting exhilarating. It was so peaceful up there looking down on the world, floating towards to ground below.
I joined the 3rd Parachute Brigade under Brigadier Gale, dropping from the plane Dakotas. I was at war in Algiers and Tunis with drops at Messina, Taranto and Algiers. Fighting was brutal; bloodshed everywhere.

I was posted back to England December 1943 and sent to Bulford for a refresher course and then on to Ringway & Tatton Park preparing for the D Day invasion. However, my squad was kept behind. I Left Uppingham and dropped from A.D.C 47 at Arnhem on 17th September 1944. No words to describe it, sheer hell, no, even that doesn鈥檛 come close. I never thought I would make it out alive.

Reached Hartenstein Hotel. Then on through the woods, desperately seeking safe ground. Casualties were high. Thank God I was a good runner and a good dodger of bullets. Everywhere was in flames. Houses and gliders were turning to piles of charcoal and dust before my eyes. Corpses lay everywhere, parachutists hanging dead in the trees with looks of pure terror on their tired and worn faces.

It seems I lay near the river for hours, praying for my life. The only thing I had to eat for days were apples found in a nearby orchard. I was with the 4th Para brigade at the time and along with some pals I tried to swim across the river but had no energy, almost drowning in despair. I was eventually picked up in a boat by the Canadians and taken to Nismegan feeling lucky to be alive.

In March 1945 we dropped at Hamlyn, Germany. Heavy fighting then started in Dortmund. Equally as fierce as Arnhem. Again I was lucky to be alive. I was sent to Indonesia with the 3rd Airborne Division R.E. to start training for jungle warfare.

Japan surrenders and I celebrate with mates. I got quite merry, I deserved it, I forgot it all for a moment, I was Bill again drinking with my mates. One pal ended the celebration by accidentally shooting off his big toe!

I arrived home late 1945..first in 鈥攍ast out. The only good thing that happened was meeting my wife Vera Parkinson when I was stationed in Biddulph, Stoke on Trent. We have just celebrated 61 years of happy marriage and have 3 wonderful children, 1 grand daughter and a lovely Great Grandson who hopefully will one day read about his Great Granddad, smile and remember me.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.