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a defence of the DZ At this point the only
sound was an occassional pattle of the equipment We
were told that it would be about 30 mins from our drop
to the drop of the main body (it felt like 30 hours)
Then off in the distance we heard the sound of the
first plane motors At this point the other light men and
myself -- went out and turned on the lights and headed
back for cover because we surely thought this would be it
with the field lit up but still no sound except for the sound
of the planes -- which were getting louder all the time
At this point the tracers from the AA guns started to
light up the sky It looked like it was raining red drop
up Now the planes were over head and the men from
the 2nd Bn started to bale out The sky looked
like a mushroom crop suddenly ^had bloomed
One of the equipment bundles came crashing to
the ground and exploded with a tremendous
roar This was it we said the Krauts are
zeroed in on us so dig deep But that was all
that had happened We could hear the men on the
way down calling to each other (Is that you
Joe)
How so many men could know what they were
doing in such a small area was beyond me
but they did and i n a short time they were headed
for the assembly areas
Our job as pathfinders was not over yet after
the planes had passed our head our lights were
turned out but the radar men had to keep tapping
out his code for the gliders were to come in next
and we had to follow the same procedure This
is something I wish would never have to happen because
when the gliders started to come in it was murder
There was just one crash after another as they hit the so
called hedgerows It was just like crumbling wooden
match-boxes in your hand We spent a lot of time helping
the poor guys who could be helped getting out of the wreckage
You can take it from me those glider boys really had it rough
At daylight we had to move our equipment to a new drop zone
area to bring in the gliders for daylight landing Instead of
lights we used coloured cloth panels to form the T's