Private Richard Rudd

3854378 Private Richard Whipp Rudd, of the 11th Parachute Battalion. "Dick" Rudd joined the British Army in 1932 and was posted to the 4th Battalion The Loyal Regiment, Territorial Army, on the 25th January. On the 1st November 1938, he was transferred to the 62nd Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery (TA), then the 134th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment based at Dorking on the 13th September 1942, and the 197th Anti-Aircraft Battery in the Middle East on the 6th January 1943. He applied to join the Parachute Regiment on the 8th September 1943, completed his parachute training at Ramat David, and was posted to the 11th Parachute Battalion on the 6th January 1944. At Arnhem, Rudd was one of the few members of the 11th Battalion to withdraw across the Rhine on the 25/26th September 1944. When the 4th Parachute Brigade was disbanded on its return to the UK, he was posted to the 3rd Parachute Battalion, and later the 1st Battalion on the 5th July 1945. Rudd also returned to Arnhem to take part in the filming of Theirs is the Glory, before being released to the Army Reserve on the 5th February 1946. Copyright: Dick Rudd.