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From the Leicester Mercury 7.2.2014:
One of the last survivors of the ill-fated 1944 Arnhem assault has died.
John Stillwell, who was 92, was among the nearly 9,000 British troops dropped by parachute or landed by glider as part of an audacious operation to seize a foothold over the Rhine during the Second World War – a raid immortalised in the film A Bridge Too Far.
Mr Stillwell was a member of 10th Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, based at Somerby, prior to the landings in September 1944.
Of the 650 paratroopers from the battalion who took part in the mission – Operation Market Garden – only about 30 returned.
Mr Stillwell, of Cosby, took part in the annual commemorative parade through Somerby every year until 2011.
At the 60th anniversary parade, Mr Stillwell told the Leicester Mercury the battalion was "almost annihilated" in the landings in the Netherlands.
He said: "It brings back memories.
"You meet old friends, people who were with you right from the start and went through all the battles with you. It's an emotional day."
Speaking during a visit to the bridge the same year, he said: "The bullets tore holes in my parachute.
"I've only just found out today – 60 years later – that it wasn't Germans but Dutchmen who were shooting at us as we dropped. Dutchmen who had joined the SS.
"It was complete chaos. We tried to get forward. I was firing the Bren gun.
"A couple of men dropped this side of me, a couple dropped that side. One got split down the middle by machine gun fire.
"That was the first time in my life I knew there was somebody up there looking after me. I believed.
"The whole thing was a disaster. Sometimes, I think they sent us into action just for the sake of it.
"They may have had a plan, but they didn't think it through.''
Mr Stillwell was held prisoner in Halle, Germany, for five months before escaping.
In 2007, he said: "A stray British bomb blew a hole in the fence and three of us were able to escape and head up into the hills."
He narrowly missed being recaptured when he made a daring return to the camp to collect food for himself and other escapees.
Alec Wilson, whose book I Played the Piano and Made the Tea, about his father Alexander (Alec) Outridge Wilson's wartime service in the 10th Battalion, described Mr Stillwell as "a real local hero".
He said: "John was a member of that Band of Brothers the 10th Battalion Parachute Regiment, who originally numbered about 650 and are now down to, I believe, five."
Mr Stillwell leaves a wife, Barbara, sons Alan and Paul, a daughter Marilyn and six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Ar...#ixzz2uDjwcuNA
From the Leicester Mercury 7.2.2014:
One of the last survivors of the ill-fated 1944 Arnhem assault has died.
John Stillwell, who was 92, was among the nearly 9,000 British troops dropped by parachute or landed by glider as part of an audacious operation to seize a foothold over the Rhine during the Second World War – a raid immortalised in the film A Bridge Too Far.
Mr Stillwell was a member of 10th Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, based at Somerby, prior to the landings in September 1944.
Of the 650 paratroopers from the battalion who took part in the mission – Operation Market Garden – only about 30 returned.
Mr Stillwell, of Cosby, took part in the annual commemorative parade through Somerby every year until 2011.
At the 60th anniversary parade, Mr Stillwell told the Leicester Mercury the battalion was "almost annihilated" in the landings in the Netherlands.
He said: "It brings back memories.
"You meet old friends, people who were with you right from the start and went through all the battles with you. It's an emotional day."
Speaking during a visit to the bridge the same year, he said: "The bullets tore holes in my parachute.
"I've only just found out today – 60 years later – that it wasn't Germans but Dutchmen who were shooting at us as we dropped. Dutchmen who had joined the SS.
"It was complete chaos. We tried to get forward. I was firing the Bren gun.
"A couple of men dropped this side of me, a couple dropped that side. One got split down the middle by machine gun fire.
"That was the first time in my life I knew there was somebody up there looking after me. I believed.
"The whole thing was a disaster. Sometimes, I think they sent us into action just for the sake of it.
"They may have had a plan, but they didn't think it through.''
Mr Stillwell was held prisoner in Halle, Germany, for five months before escaping.
In 2007, he said: "A stray British bomb blew a hole in the fence and three of us were able to escape and head up into the hills."
He narrowly missed being recaptured when he made a daring return to the camp to collect food for himself and other escapees.
Alec Wilson, whose book I Played the Piano and Made the Tea, about his father Alexander (Alec) Outridge Wilson's wartime service in the 10th Battalion, described Mr Stillwell as "a real local hero".
He said: "John was a member of that Band of Brothers the 10th Battalion Parachute Regiment, who originally numbered about 650 and are now down to, I believe, five."
Mr Stillwell leaves a wife, Barbara, sons Alan and Paul, a daughter Marilyn and six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Ar...#ixzz2uDjwcuNA
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