A Comrade always Remembered

Almost everyone has learned from films and anniversaries commemorated, of the heroics of the British 6th Airborne Divison on
D-Day (June 1944) and Arnhem (September 1944)- this year marked the 60th anniversary of the Rhine Crossing - operation "Varsity". The 6th Airborne's objectives were to drop and take control of the high ground east of Bergen, the village of Hamminkeln and the Issel bridges.

My father, Frank Aston (Brummie)was a private in the 2nd Batt. Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiment and as part of the 6th Air-landing Brigade, took part in this operation, landing by glider in full day light on an enemy-held position.

Many times throughout my childhood, my dad would tell me that one day he would take his family back to the "fairy-tale" village in Germany where "Pop" Harding was killed and we would locate his grave and pay our respects to a very brave man.

For over fifty-nine years my dad had never forgotten the comrade that had become his friend, a man who had been a veteran of parachute/glider drops and who, being in his mid-thirties, was looked up to by the younger soldiers in the regiment - Stanley Harding, the man they called "Pop". Tears always appeared in dad's eyes whenever he referred to the Rhine Crossing and the terrible irony that after several campaigns, this man had been killed during what was to be the last drop.

Dad told me that as the gliders were the last to go in on the morning of 24 March 1945, they were expected and therefore, came under very heavy fire and shrapnel and many were shot down. When their glider landed near Hamminkeln the seargeant was standing by the open door and he was the first to be killed. As "Pop" ran out of the glider to confront the enemy a bullet wound to his head struck him down. The Ox & Bucks met their objectives and later when they came to bury "Pop", near the crossroads in Hamminkeln, they came under German fire and it was impossible for them to do so without sustaining more casualties. "Pop" was finally able to be buried when captured German prisoners were made to dig the grave and the gunfire ceased.

Dad himself was wounded by a sniper - but he said that when he heard (whilst recovering in a field hospital in Nijmegen), that his regiment were due to move out, he insisted on joining them on their march to the Baltic which ended in Wismar and the meeting up with Russian troops.

Sadly, Dad never returned to Hamminkeln. For many years he suffered ill-health and was unable to travel. However, Dad did get to see where "Pop" was buried. Whilst undertaking family history research in my local library, I checked the War Graves List and found that Pop's real name was Stanley and that he was buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery near Keele in Germany. Pop's body had been recoverd and brought back across the Rhine to be buried in the heart of the Reichwald Forest on the border of Holland and Germany.

Two years ago my husband and I made the pilgrimage to Pop's grave on Dad's behalf. We laid a wreath from Dad (who had also appended the names of three members of the regiment who were with "Pop" when he was killed) - one I believe was "Rekky" Reece.

Dad was always proud of the fact that the 2nd Batt. Ox & Bucks always met their objectives and wore the 6th Airborne badge on his blazer with pride.

Dad was later to serve in Palestine and was intending to sign up again but he met and later married my mother Rose Aston in 1949.

We had planned to take Dad back to Hamminkeln for the anniversary this year, but sadly Dad passed away on 13 October last year. It is is memory of Dad and the comrade that he never forgot, that I wanted to write this story - and for all the other brave and proud men of the British Airborne Forces to be remembered.

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