7th Battalion 6th Airborne- Operation Varsity

Hi
Please could anyone give me any info regarding my fathers war service with the 7th Battalion/6th Airborne on Operation Varsity. His name is Eric George Lancaster he was a Lance-corp signal/wirelessman and he remembers (alas he has memory problems) being next to Lt-Col Pine-Coffin when he sustained his facial wounds, and putting a dressing on these wounds. Can anyone confirm or deny this and is there any documentary evidence of this incident?

Many thanks

Stephen Lancaster

 

welcome stephen,try the national archives link. The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Advanced Search

 

link to operation varsity..hope this provides some info,regards,ray..

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=op...ine_result&ct=title&resnum=17&ved=0CEUQ5wIwEA

 

Many thanks for very fast reply sniper1946

Regards

Steve

 

your welcome,you will need to go to kew in person for information to further your search,ray..

 

Hello, Stephen

I'd be surprised if your father is specifically named as the person who administered First Aid to Pine-Coffin - but it would be excellent if he was! In The Last Drop I make brief reference to Pine-Coffin's injury. He himself makes no mention of being wounded, in his account in BAOR's BAttlefield Tour. I would have given more detail had it been available.

The file reference for 5th Parachute Brigade's War Diary for 1945 (of which the 7th was a part) is WO 171/4307

Steve W.

 

Your best bet would be to look in the information requests thread and look at the 7th Bn Para thread, I expect Michael Pine-Coffin will be able to help.

 

Hi Wtid45 and GP Regt

Many thanks for the info.
I have emailed Michael Pine-Coffin, but any more general info regarding the 7th Battalion story is always appreciated

Regards

Steve

 

Hi

I'm hoping that someone can help me with some information on Pte William Gibson of the 7th Batallion. He died on 24th March 1945 which I'm guessing was the first night of the Operation Varsity drop. His name is on the Groesbeek Memorial, Gelderland, Netherlands. Would this be consistent?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Nick

 

I would firstly recommend going to www.paradata.org.uk and also looking up W Gibson at www.cwgc.org also A Tale Of Two Bridges is an excellent book if you want details of the 7th's Normandy activities and there are as Stephen says above, details to be found ref, Varsity in his book The Last Drop.

 

Nick,
3311915 Pte William GIBSON Religion C.E. N.O.K. WIFE (No details) of 30,Clydesdale street, Bo'ness, West Lothian, Scotland. Complete Parachute Course 131.
On the Rhine drop he was in one of the two glider used by 7 Para to bring in extra ammunition and petrol.One glider with Sgt Danny Young and Lt Jack Simpson came down off the D.Z. They were both in the front of the glider and managed to get the wounded pilot out before the glider blew up. I am afraid the men at the back of their glider, were stuck behind the jeep, which contained 80 mortar rounds, gallons of petrol and thousands of rounds of ammunition.Danny stated that about a Company strength of Germans started to fire at the glider which then caught fire as he was dragging the wounded pilot towards cover. Danny, Jack Simpson and the pilot were all captured.
The second glider is believed to have blown up in the air. This is the reason why all the other men in the gliders are shown as having no known grave.


Steve,
I had the pleasure of corresponding with your father for several years, he gave to me a very detailed account of the Rhine drop. He did not mention that he administered first aid to my grandfather. He did state that he was with my grandfather and was knocked over by the same air burst from the 88mm gun that caused so many problems on that day. The Germans were firing the 88 into the trees with devastating effect. My grandfather was hit in the head by a piece of shrapnel, it split his face open and knocked out several teeth, but did not fracture his jaw.The same burst killed Sammy Lake who was standing next to him. Stephen Theobald the signals officers, who was also there, stated my grandfather was talking at the time that he was wounded, which is probably why his jaw was not smashed to pieces, Stephen did become rather concerned as my grandfather was bleeding all over the radio set, which was probably your father's radio. My grandfather refused to be evacuated and continued to soldier on. This is mentioned in the citation for his bar to his D.S.O. which he was awarded for the Rhine drop.

Yours
Michael

 

Hi Michael

Many thanks for the very interesting reply, it has certainly given me much food for thought!!

He was probably in contact with you when he was involved in the Rochdale Branch of the PRA, which I was unfortunate to miss, so I am trying to make up for lost time

I will copy this and try and use it to stimulate Dad into taking a trip down Memory Lane as somedays we can have some good conversations, but on other days he is a little more vague

Kind regards

Stephen

 

Hi Michael

Thank you so much for that information. I'm very grateful. It does explain why there is no grave.
I'd be interested to know if anyone knew William Gibson personally. I'm trying to find out a bit about his background and military career.

Thanks again


Nick

 

HI. Can anyone help me.Im looking for info on my uncle who was sadly laid to rest today.His name was Gordon Tucker and he was in the 7th battalion 6th airborne.Uncle gordon landed in france after the gliders on the 5th june 1944. He was from the somerset area.Thank you so much.

 

Sorry have no information on Gordon Tucker, which means that he would not have been with the battalion after Normandy. Do not have him on list of wounded missing from the battalion which consists of 144 names and was completed in August 1944. Unfortunately I do not have records prior to Normandy, except the details of parachute course 41, which was completed by those men who volunteered from the 10th Somerset Light Infantry.His name is not listed.
It is possible that he was one of the non jumpers who went to Normandy by ship and was then wounded after August or was posted to another unit. He could have also been in another unit and completed a different parachute course.

For further information you will have to apply for his military records phone 08456009663 to find out how to do this and what is required
Yours
Michael

 

Hello there,

I have some information about the late Gordon Tucker/ Gudge/ Tucks.

To the best of my knowledge, he was part of the 6th Airbourne, 7th batallion. He parachuted in to Ranville in the early hours on june 6th - following the gliders.

He told me that his batallion held the bridges, and eventually moved into Berlin. While in Berlin he was stabbed in the leg and transferred back to the UK. I believe he said he was in Liverpool hospital, but cant be sure.

Once well enough to return to action he was sent to Palastine.

Sue Tucker his daughter is donating the knife he was stabbed with to the museum at Pegasses bridge on June 6th this year. And she is probably the best person to talk to about the details surrounding his time in the War.

Hope this helps.

Anna