Private William T. Hume

Unit : Signals Platoon, HQ Company, attached to "B" Company, 3rd Parachute Battalion

Army No. : 2033893

William "Billy" Hume was born on the 3rd March 1918. A member of the 3rd Battalion's Signals Platoon, he was attached to  "B" Company, at Arnhem, and flew to Arnhem aboard the same C-47 as Major Waddy. As the remnants of the 3rd Battalion fell back following the last attempt of the 1st Parachute Brigade to break through to Arnhem Bridge on Tuesday 19th September 1944, Hume and two friends, Privates Sharp and Vaughan, were forced to shelter in No.22 Sofiastraat, and were in hiding there until the 23rd September, when it became clear that German troops were going to occupy the house. Throughout this time they had been in contact with a Dutch civilian, Van Waanen, and he provided them with civilian clothes and two bicycles, then during the afternoon led them to No.24 Arnoldstraas, where a doctor, Gerrit van Manning, was called to dress Bill's arm, which had been burned by a flame-thrower. They remained here until the 10th October, when they were moved to a shooting lodge in the woodland at Oud Reemst, where other evaders were in hiding. The three men were evacuated across the Rhine during Operation Pegasus on the 22nd October 1944. The following is Hume's  MI9 report:

2033893 Pte. HUME, William.                      )

2049705 Pte. VAUGHAN, Dennis Michael.  ) All of 3 Bn. Para Regt. 1 Airborne Division.

6298911 Pte. SHARP, Ronald Francis.         )

Left: EINDHOVEN, 24 Oct 44.

Arrived: U.K., 24 Oct 44.

(For personal details see end of this report).

We were dropped with our battalion at 1345 hrs on 17 Sep 44 East of RENKUM (N.W. EUROPE 1:250,000, Sheet 2A and 3A, E 6276). We proceeded to OOSTERBEEK (E 7079) and were engaged by the enemy.

At 0200 hrs on 19 Sep Col. FITCH gave orders to evacuate. We then believed that we were the last three of our party to leave the cover of the houses. We were cut off by machine gun fire and we returned to one of the houses in OOSTERBEEK and took turns in keeping guard at one of the windows. We remained there until the morning of 23 Sep.

On 22 Sep the area surrounding the houses was used as a halftrack vehicle park. At about 1600 hrs a Dutchman brought a note to us which stated that Cpl. WESTCOTTE and Cpl. BARTLE of "A" Coy., Ptes. MITCHLEMORE, SMITH (last two figures of personal number are 80) and WALKER of H.Q. Coy., and Pte. DRINKWATER of "C" Coy. were in a nearby house. They asked us to join them, but this was impossible because of enemy action. We did not see them, and we do not know what happened to them.

On the morning of 23 Sep another Dutchman came to the house and discovered us. He advised us to leave, as the Germans intended to use the houses, including the one we were in, as billets. The Dutchman went away and returned later that day with two bicycles and three suits of civilian clothes. We changed to civilian clothes and hid our uniforms and equipment in the cellar. We left the house during the afternoon of 23 Sep.

Ptes. VAUGHAN AND SHARP:

We travelled by bicycle escorted by a Dutchman to a house in ARNHEM (E 77).

Pte. HUME:

I left the house escorted by a Dutchman and we walked to a house in ARNHEM, where I rejoined Ptes. VAUGHAN and SHARP.

Ptes. HUME, VAUGHAN and SHARP:

We remained at this house in ARNHEM until 10 Oct. During this time we were visited by a Dutch doctor who dressed Pte. HUME's arm which had been burnt by a flame-thrower.

At 0600 hrs on 10 Oct the doctor and another doctor took us by bicycle to the Elizabeth Hospital in ARNHEM. There we were met by a Dutch civilian who escorted the three of us to a house about 8 km. N.W. of ARNHEM. There we were met by a Dutch civilian who escorted the three of us to a house about 8 km. N.W. of ARNHEM. We were met by another escort who took us to a Red Cross building in OUD REEMEST (E 6286). We remained there for about two hours and then two Dutchmen escorted us to a shooting lodge in the woods S.E. of OUD REEMEST, where we met Capt. DEVLIN, R.A.M.C. and six airborne troops (names unknown).

On 11 Oct Capt. DEVLIN and three of the airborne troops, probably R.A.M.C. orderlies, were taken to EDE (E 5985).

The remaining six of us stayed at this hut until 22 Oct. During this time we were supplied with food by the Dutch underground movement and at intervals we were joined by other evaders, members of the R.A.F. and U.S.A.A.F. etc. (names unknown) and Capt. GRIFFITHS, R.A.

At 1100 hrs on 22 Oct Major HIBBERT, 2 Bn., Para Regt., arrived at the hut dressed in civilian clothes.

The remainder of our experiences are as related by Major HIBBERT in his report (S/P.G.(H) 2849).

My thanks to Keith Brooks for his assistance with this account.

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