Private William Alexander Gordon
Unit : No.10 Platoon, "C" Company, 156 Parachute Battalion
Army No. : 6466835
William Gordon enlisted into The Royal Fusiliers on the 17th January 1940 [1]. He volunteered for the Airborne Forces whilst serving in the Middle East, and joined the 156 Parachute Battalion, completing Parachute Course 34 at R.A.F. Ramat David, 19th - 29th April 1943 [2]. He was assigned to No.10 Platoon, "C" Company, with whom he saw action in Italy in September 1943.
On Monday 18th September 1944, he took-off from Saltby aerodrome aboard a C-47 (Chalk 631) of the 314th Troop Carrier Group, bound for Holland as part of the Second Lift of Operation Market Garden. He jumped onto DZ-Y near the town of Ede amidst considerable enemy opposition, but made it to the R.V. The following is his escape and evasion report:
STATEMENT BY: 6466835. Pte. GORDON, William Alexander, 156 Bn, Para Regt. 1 Airborne Div.
Date of Birth: 18 Dec 16.
Army Service: 5 years, 3 months.
Peacetime Profession: Rubber Vulcaniser.
Private Address: 18 Swan Close, Hanworth, Middlesex.
Other members of the Stick:
Lt. Wilcox. (presumed killed) [176224. Lt. D.B. Willcock. 9 Pl Comd. POW]
Sgt. Walsey. (never seen) [5672482. Sgt. W. Wasley. Pl Sgt, 10 Pln. Not A/C 631. KIA]
Pte. Fairclough, L. (wounded, P/W) [3654298. Pte. R.F. Fairclough. 10 Pl WIA/POW]
Pte. Lockett. (fate unknown) [5049394. L/Cpl. L. Lockett. C-Coy Clerk. WIA/POW]
Pte. Warrick. (P/W) [3448671. Pte. H. Warwick. 10 Pl POW]
Pte. Lowe, T. (Evading) [6979896. Pte. T. Lowe. 10 Pl Escaped Pegasus I]
Pte. O'Reilly. (Evading) [6979621. Pte. J.J. O'Reilly. 11 Pl. Not A/C 631. Escaped Pegasus I]
Sgt. Hayes. (fate unknown) [6009204. Cpl. C.W. Hayes. 9 Pl Killed as POW]
Type of aircraft, place, date, time of departure? Dakota - (?) - 18 Sep 44, 1100 hrs, approx..
Where and when did you come down? West of WOLFHEZE E. 6579 (NEW: 1:250,000) Sheet 2a & 3a, 1400 hours.
How did you dispose of your parachute, harness, and mae west? Left on ground.
Were all secret papers and equipment destroyed? None.
Maps used: NWE. 1:250, 000, Sheets 2a and 3a.
On 18 Sep 44 we took off in a Dakota from an A/D in the Grantham area. This was around 1100 hours. Our objective was ARNHEM (NEW: 1:250,000, Sheet 2a and 3a). We landed at a position approximately E 6578 around 1400 hours.
From this point the Bde marched to a R.V. some few hundred N. where we picked up the KOSB's. My Company was detailed to push on to ARNHEM. We reached OOSTERBEEK (E. 6878) where we came up against the Germans. As it was too dark to ascertain the strength of the Germans in the area it was decided to return to WOLFHEZE (E. 6579) and stay the night.
At dawn on 19 Sep we were detailed to attack a certain part of the woods which the Germans were holding. This was around E. 6680. Before approaching the wood my Bn was split up into two parts, one going North and the other, in which I was, made straight for the woods. We held our part of the line for about nine hours, when our Coy Commander [69721. Major. G.S. Powell] gave orders to retire back to WOLFHEZE. I learned afterwards that the Northern part of the attack had run into serious opposition, and had suffered heavy casualties.
WOLFHEZE, we were told, had to be defended at all costs. At some time during the night our Second in Command [105125. Capt. H. Montgomery] gathered as many of us as he could find and took us into the woods. We were 22 strong. The place was around E. 6380.
At dawn on 20 Sep our officers decided to push towards the RHINE and try and contact some of our troops. At a point E. 6378 approx, we ambushed a German patrol about our own strength. We waited until they were about 10 - 20 yards away and then let them have everything we had. We beat a hasty retreat back into the woods.
After the officers held a conference it was decided we should make off to the RHINE in small parties of twos and threes. My party consisted of 6. They were L/Cpl. MEECHAN (?) [7893279. Pte. T.M. Meechan. Sigs Pl, "C" Coy Det.], Pte. O'REILLY, Pte. LOWE, Sgt. CONLON [5827153. Sgt. J.J. Conlon. 10 Pl Sect Comd], Pte. WARWICK and myself. For two days, with Sgt. CONLON as i/c party, we kept to the woods. On 23 Sep in the afternoon, we found, much to our surprise, we were back in WOLFHEZE again. Unfortunately for us all our rations had been lost when we made our withdrawal from OOSTERBEEK, so for two days we had neither food nor water.
We found some raw potatoes and a water tap in a disused shed. Both were welcome. When we entered the shed no German patrols were to be seen, but when we looked through a hole in the wall of the shed we found that patrols were on both sides of the shed. For five days we were marooned here.
Finally Sgt. CONLON and Pte. WARWICK went off in the evening of the 28 Sep to see if they could find any of our food containers. They had not been gone very long when we heard shots. We never saw those two again. For three weeks we stayed in this shed. Only on one occasion did we leave the place and that was when Pte. O'REILLY and myself decided to procure some chickens which we had pin-pointed. They were kept in a chicken run next door to a German billet. We managed to return with six dead chickens. We lived on chickens for some days.
On 14 or 15 Oct the look-out man noticed a civilian and a soldier with the Paratroop beret walking towards the shed. After some while we managed to attract their attention. This we had to do rather carefully, as the Germans were still around the place. Eventually they came to the shed and climbed through a window. The civilian was a Dutch Red Cross worker, and the man with the Red beret was the R.C. Chaplain [Capt/Father. D. McGowan. Attached 133 Para Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C.] of the 4 Para Bde. They were looking for dead and wounded paratroopers. After a short talk with them they promised to send a Red Cross van for us the next day. From the time of arrival of the van until reaching Allied lines I was in friendly hands and my movements were arranged for me.
APPENDIX C.
During the day of 15 or 16 Oct a nurse and a driver arrived. We were put into the van, covered with rugs, and then driven off to EDE (E. 5885) where we stayed in a school which was a temporary hospital for evacuees. Here I stayed for five days. Civilian clothes were given to us and our uniforms were taken.
On 19 or 20 Oct we were moved by a Red Cross wagon to a farm near LUNTEREN (E. 5990) (approx.). The farmer was known to me as LUC.
On 24 or 25 Oct it was decided to move me to another place where I could receive proper treatment. I had been suffering from a form of paralysis in both legs which was getting increasingly worse, so on the morning of 24 or 25 Oct I was moved by horse and cart to a blacksmith's house somewhere between BARNEVELD (E. 5496) and LUNTEREN. The blacksmith's name was VAN DER MHEEN. For 10 or 11 weeks I was looked after by a Dutch doctor and nurse who spared no time nor trouble in nursing me back to health. They could not have been kinder.
On 8 Jan, or thereabouts, the two brothers of VAN DER MHEEN - HANK and WILHELM - took me by cycle to AMERONGEN (E. 4480), where I stayed with the owner of the only garage in the town, a M. BEER. On 15 Jan whilst staying with BEER, I received a message from one of the Underground people to the effect that a crossing was to be attempted somewhere in the vicinity of TIEL (E. 4268). I set off with a guide about 0500 hrs on 19 Jan to contact another group that was making the crossing.
This part of my story is covered in Para's 7 - 9 incl of App 'C' to E & E Report No. S9/WEA/1/280/2372 - Capt. T.F. REDMAN, R.A.M.C.
When we re-crossed the RHINE I returned to BEER's house. From this date until 19 Feb I stayed with him. On the afternoon of 19 Feb I was taken by a guide named LUC to SLIEDRECHT (D. 9863). On the night of 19 Feb I stayed with the Domine of MOLENAARS GRAF (E. 0067), a M. Klaas DEKKER. On 20 Feb a girl (name not known to me) came and took me to VAN DER WIEL's house in SLIEDRECHT. Here I stayed until 6 mar. From here my story corresponds, in the main details, to that narrated by F/Sgt. RADCLIFFE in Appx 'C' to E & E Report No IS9/WEA/1/292/2382.
INTERVIEWED BY I.S.9 (WEA), 7 Mar 45.
William Gordon transferred back to The Royal Fusiliers on the 23rd May 1945, but then joined the 11th Battalion The Parachute Regiment (T.A.) on the 7th February 1949. [1]
NOTES:
[1] The Parachute Regiment, Transfer & Enlistment Book 10, page 5.
[2] Parachute Course Report. R.A.F. Ramat David.
My thanks to Bob Hilton for this account.