SSgt Patrick Withnall Patrick was a member of the Glider Pilot Regiment who flew two sorties into France as part of Operation OVERLORD. On is first landing, Patrick’s glider encountered some of the German glider counter measures; namely large wooden stakes of the same dimensions of telegraph poles placed at short intervals with taught and thick wire bound between the poles. Patrick’s glider landed right in the middle of a field full of these poles and went from an approximate speed of 120mph to 0 in the space of 20 metres as it caught the wires. He and his co-pilot could not see the poles until the very last moment by which time it was too late to take evasive action. They simply looked at each other, fearing the worst and braced themselves for impact and a probable decapitation. Fortunately for the both of them, the wire between the two poles that they hit had just enough give in it that it rode up above the cockpit as the glider landed. The poles brought the airframe to a very sudden halt. Once the troops in the back of the glider debussed, Patrick and his co-pilot were duty bound to get back to the coast as soon as possible to be taken back to the UK in order to fly further sorties. At this time, the towns and villages between themselves and the coast were still occupied by the Germans. As they made their way back to the coast, meeting up with other glider crews, they encountered snipers located in buildings and were engaged on many occasions. Some of the more adventurous and younger crewmen were keen to attempt some basic building assaults to negate the sniper threat but they were under strict instruction to avoid such action and get back to UK as soon as possible to fly more gliders; the glider crews were a valuable commodity. On reaching the coast, the crew’s were literally pulled up by their armpits by “big hairy matelots” and whisked back to the mainland on fast patrol boats to be taken back to Salisbury Plain to fly the next missions back into France. I was honoured to know Patrick as he was my next door neighbor when we first moved in to our house in Plymouth. Unfortunately Patrick died about 4 or 5 years ago but I got to know him very well in the short time that we were acquainted. Patrick also flew in to Arnhem as part of Operation MARKET GARDEN, flying a detachment of Polish infantry. Shortly after landing, Patrick heard an almighty firefight take place near to his landing site. On investigation, every last man that Patrick had flown in, had been killed in an ambush. Patrick was captured by the Germans and was marched from Arnhem to the PoW camp in Germany where he was held until the end of the war. Patrick often used to say that we soldiers of today were very brave, having to do the things that we were doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would always rebuke him on this, saying that he and his generation were the bravest. Patrick spent the last of his years assisting in the recording of the history of the Glider Pilot Regiment and its eventual amalgamation into the Army Air Corps. He was massively involved in a documentary called ‘Silently to War’. It is a fascinating programme and Patrick makes a personal appearance describing his experiences with the first landing on D-Day with those poles. A fascinating man and an absolute privilege and honour to have known him. I do miss him and our chats. Today I remember Patrick and his comrades and all those who took part in what was and will always be the most audacious military operation ever.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 08:53:18 +0000
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