Interview with John Edward Weathers

British private served with 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB, North West Europe and in Far East, 1943-1946

REEL 1 Background in Isleworth, GB, 1924-1943: family; education; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; employment; degree of German Air Force bombing in Isleworth; use of air raid shelters; fire-watching duties. Aspects of enlistment and training with Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's) in GB, 1943: attitude to call-up for military service; reporting at Maidstone; loss of his cutlery; washing up facilities; adjusting to military discipline; posting to Hyderabad Barracks, Colchester Garrison; allocation to signals training; volunteering for Parachute Regiment; signals training in Colchester area, summer 1943. Aspects of training as private with Parachute Regiment in GB, 1943: initial training at Chesterfield; parachute training at No 1 Parachute Training School, RAF at RAF Ringway. REEL 2 Continues: food and drink available to unit; problems of parachuting from Armstrong Whitworth Whitley. Aspects of period as private with Signals Platoon, Headquarters Coy, 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in GB, 1943-1944: joining unit at Larkhill; training on Salisbury Plain; life for signallers; in holding camp at Keevil; initial sight of aircraft with black and white D-Day stripes; briefing for D-Day operations; embarkation on board Short Stirling at RAF Keevil, 5/6/1944; arrangement on board Short Stirling to avoid parachutes from being caught up. Recollections of operations as signaller with Signals Platoon, Headquarters Coy, 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, D-Day, 6/6/1944: aircraft's evading flak; reaction to exiting aircraft; landing near Cabourg; assembling of small group of paratroopers under signals officer; problems crossing River Dives; sheltering in barn. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as signaller with Signals Platoon, Headquarters Coy, 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in Normandy, France, 7/6/1944-15/6/1944: refuge at Ferme de la Bergerie owned by French farmer Adrien Vermughen; attempt to rejoin Allied lines; sheltering with French civilians; wounding by machine gun fire in Sallenelles area; encounter with two commandoes; wartime fates of Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, Private Douglas Baines and Monsieur Adrien Vermughen; evacuation and hospitalisation in Park Prewett Hospital. Recollections of operations with B Coy, 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde, 6th Airborne Div in North West Europe, 12/1944-5/1945: return to battalion at Salisbury; move to Ardennes, Belgium, 25/12/1944; arrival at Namur, Belgium; move to River Maas, Netherlands; question of inadequacy of officers footwear in winter. REEL 4 Continues: character of Operation Varsity, the parachute drop over River Rhine, Germany, 24/3/1945; sickness on landing; sight of glider blown up by German 88mm Gun; sight of horse and cart enveloped by parachute, 24/3/1945; advance into Germany; killing of German Army despatch rider; destruction of German ammunition truck; halt at Osnabruck, Germany; German use of 'dum dum' bullets; his narrow escape from accidental discharge of NCO's weapon; arrival at Wismar, Germany; impressions of Soviet Army troops in Wismar area; acquiring German Army officer's watch. Recollections of period as signaller with 12th Bn Parachute Regt, 5th Parachute Bde in Far East, 1945-1946: move to Bombay, India, 7/1945; reaction to hearing of proposed parachute drop on Singapore, Malaya, 8/1945; move to Singapore via Port Dickson, Malaya; reaction to sight of Japanese prisoners of war; setting up of Pegasus Club in Singapore, Malaya. REEL 5 Continues: reunion with brother-in-law aboard HMS Duke of York; relaxation in Singapore, Malaya; basing at Changi, Singapore, Malaya; incident of NCO being exonerated of killing Japanese prisoners of war in lorry accident; lift he received from General 'Boy' Browning; move to Semarang in Java, Dutch East Indies, 11/1945; nature of active service; Christmas Day celebrations, 25/12/1945; enrolling in National Fire Service, 3/1946; mutiny amongst 13th Bn Parachute Regt over camp conditions; return to GB and awaiting demobilisation on Isle of Wight, 1946; attitude to having served with Parachute Regiment in Second World War; question of recovery from wounds received in Normandy, France, 6/1944.