[Droodog127]

First Combat Drop By the British in WWII

TomcatPC asked me to post this here

My Granddad was a member of this unit that made this first jump


Here is Granddad Training on Ben Nevis in Scotland

He is the little guy but from what his friends said "He scared the hell out of us"



Ft.William Monument



Training in Tatton Park Knutsford (used it as the drop zone near Ringway airfield)




Whitley Bomber was used for Airborne Training in 1940



The DZ Tatton Park







Operation Colossus February 1941

Target Tragino Aqueduct Italy



Prior to Mission in Malta



Departure for Mission Malta
(the General mutters in this picture "Damn Pity") he knew it was a one way mission




All Members of the Mission were captured after destroying the objective

Painting of Mission


The Men In Campo Sulmona Italy



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Granddad with the mean look

Granddad in the POW Camp

[Droodog127]

Granddad and a lot of the men escaped over time and he made it back to England and they shipped him to Burma in time for Kohema (spelling)

He died in 73 and I never really knew him or about him in this until I found out about a book written about this mission



Here are the signatures of the author and the remaining Men and their wives




I got to meet the author in Scotland and we had tea and talked about all different things ( he actually knew Adolf Hitler)

I met Harry Pexton who was a mate of my Granddad's and he invited us The Family) to the 49th anniversary reunion and met the remaining members of No.2 Commando and flight crew members that dropped them.

I took a long shot and wrote to the Queen to see if she could send something for the 50th anniversary and was surprised by this



I read this letter at the 50th reunion ( it was a tearful room for a few minutes) they were very glad I did this for them but I was more glad they did what they did for all of us.

Harry gave me this plaque that he had



Here are Grandad's medals and unit crests





I donated a set to the Airborne Museum in Aldershot

they have a section with the mission and the medals of the men there

[jtuck]

Thanks for sharing. It's always nice to discover a little history about one's ancestor's.

[SwedeSteve]

Thanks for the story, and all the great pics !! Great job !!

[jamesf1968]

Great to see another family member from this historic event, known as the first SAS operation. My Great uncle is Harry "Lucky" Pexton who was a senior NCO on the op. I'm sitting here with my 7 year old son, Harry, named after his great, great uncle, after watching the Channel 4 programme on these amazing men.

Just for the record though, the photo from Scotland you have is for the Royal Marine Comnandos.

Cheers,

WDW,

James