It was a quite uneventfull day to be honest... - they didnt know we were coming! S/54950 Captain (Q.M) Ernest Ronald Walker R.A.S.C. Ernest was born in Rochdale, Lancashire 23rd February 1918. He enlisted with the Royal Army Service Corps on 31st March 1936. He was given the servicenumber T/54950. Ernest was a part of the British Expeditionary Force that was sent to France in September 1939, driven back by the advancing Germans and eventually evacuated at Dunkirk. He stayed in Great Britain and was in June 1943 posted as Chief Clerk, of the newly formed 6th Airborne Division (Formed 23rd April 1943). Major-General Richard Gale was given command of the division in May 1943. He set up HQ at a country house near Bulford. Ernest was with Major-General Gale during this time, as head of staff of clerks. They were around 40 soldiers of all ranks. In January 1944, Ernest travelled with Major-General Gale, G1 (Lt. Col. Bobby Bray) and G2 Intelligence (Major Gerry Lacoste) to 1st Brigade Airborne Corps HQ in London, and was here informed about the major upcoming operation, called Operation Overlord. - The invasion of Europe. The staff of 6th Airborne Division, left Harwell Airfield between 01.28 an 01.44 on 6th June - D Day. They were flown in by 295 Squadon 38 Group in two Horsa gliders. The first (Numbered 70) had Major-General Gale, his ADC Captain Tom Haughton, G2 Operations Major David Baird, security, the sergeant clerk, a jeep and a trailer, two motorcycles and all the essential equipment needed to administer an airborne division in battle. They were 12 on board. Ernest travelled with the second glider, along with the commander of 6th Airlanding Brigade Brigadier Hugh Kindersley, the australian BBC war correspondent Chester Wilmot and a part of the HQ defence platoon. They were 28 on board. Chester Wilmot made an recording while flying in the glider, describing the view from the cockpit and the view of the officers and men in the glider. Around 3.30 AM on 6th June 1944, Ernest landed with his glider at Drop Zone N, north of Ranville, France. Compared with so many others, his glider had a relative smooth landing, avoiding the anti-glider poles set up byt the Germans on the field. Ernest mentioned that he feared the landing, but as all other on board, he did not express his fear. Later on D Day, the BBC war correspondent Chester Wilmot recorded his experiences landing in the glider, which also carried Ernest Ronald Walker. The glider I was travelling came out better than most... He (the pilot) put the nose down, we stiffend ourselves for the touch down, and lifted our feet clear of the floor in case something might rip through the belly. The touch down it self was perfect, but as the wheels bounced and lurched over the plows and ditches, we heard the hard straining of the wooden fuselage. The crash at first hitting the nose and the undercarriage, no one was even scratched. We shouted with joy and relief...! The bottom of the nose was battered in, the wings and tail assemply was slashed here and there. But she came to rest on her three wheels. Even though she had moven down five posts that came in her path. And although we virtually crash landed in a plowed field. Major-General Gale had a rather rough landing. The glider hit an embankment, the forward undercarriage wheel stove came up through the floor, the glider spun around on its nose in a small circle, and as one wing hit one of the poles, it drew to a standstill. Major-General Gale and his men had to give up the jeep and a lot of the other equipment in the glider, due to the gliders nose being dug in to the embankment. Ernest and his men got out of their glider, unloaded the equipment and formed up. All around them, other gliders were coming in, crashing and screeching as they applied their brakes. In two and twos, Ernest and his men made across the field to the road, where they formed up at the roadside. Here they met with Major-General Gale, the ADC and his men. They then marched down the road to Ranville, trying to be as quietly as possible. Ernest remembered a amusing incident during this march to Ranville. Major-General Gale said to the men to make less noise - but as Ernest mentioned, it was hard to be all that quiet, with all that equipment and gear. So he shouted back at Gale Shut up your silly old bugger!. Gale immediately responded: Who called me a silly old bugger!? - But of course, nobody said more. Ernest marched along with Major-General Gale to the gates at Chateau du Hom just north of Ranville, and knocked on the door. Rather frightened french civilians came to the door - they were scared, and reluctant to let the soldiers in. But Gale assured them that the British soldiers was there to stay. Chateau du Hom became Major-General Gales HQ for the next 14 days. Ernest vitnessed the arrival of what he called the main body (This was the 6th Airlanding Brigade that landed in the evening) - Hundreds of gliders towed by aircrafts that were relaesed and crashed/landed in the field north of Ranville... It was a fantastic sight! Ernest set up the administrative office in a cow barne opposite the main building. Signal office was next door. He used some empty boxes for furniture and had salvaged some maps which he and a corporal installed. It was all quite primitive, as they had not been able to get the equipment out of Major-General Gales glider. Ernest used message pads scrounged from the signals. The next couple of days, there were a lot of signal traffic from the brigades, liason officers came by as well as officers from the fighting units in the area. The ground of the chateau was hit by mortars serveral times in the coming days. Ernest and his fellow soldiers found that it was a bad idea to dig a slit trench under a tree, as when the shell hit the tree branches, it exploded and sent scrapnel down into the trench. This was a lesson earned the hard way as the HQ had a few casualties this way. To sum it up, Ernest described his experiences on D Day like this: It was a quite uneventfull day to be honest... - they didnt know we were coming! Ernest and the rest of 6th Airborne Division returned to England in september 1944. Allthough I have no firm proff, Im quite sure that Ernest took part in the actions at the Ardennes, as well at the crossing of the Rhine in march 1945. For his service in WW2, Ernest was awarded the 1939-45 Star, France & Germany Star, Defence Medal and War Medal 1939-45. He was mentioned in despatches for his service in North Western Europe (London Gazette 2nd April 1946). Ernest continued to serve with the HQ 6th Airborne Division in Palestine as a Staff Sergeant Major, and was awarded the General Service Medal 1918-62 with Palestine 1945-48 clasp (Rank on medal: W.O.CL.1). He also mention service in Kenya. First time around 1947 and then again from 1949. In the early 1950s Ernest was awarded the Army Long Service Good Conduct Medal. Ernest was given a Short Service Commission as Lieutenant (Q.M) on 24th January 1959, and made Lieutenant (Q.M) 14th April 1960. He was the promoted Captain (Q.M) 17th June 1961. Ernest Ronald Walker retired 15th August 1964, having served 4 years and 150 days in the ranks, 246 days as W.O.CL.2 and 17 years and 268 days as W.O.CL.1. With his commision he served a total of 28 years and 138 days with the Royal Army Service Corps. Most of his time as Chief Clerk 6th Airborne Division HQ. Close to the 40 year anniversary of the D Day landings, Ernest was interviewet by BBC, about his experiences on D Day. Ernest Ronald Walker died only three years later, in December 1987.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 11:45:55 +0000