XXI Indep Para Coy Pathfinders reunion

[Paul D]

Great stuff Ade you can't buy the experiences of spending time with the vets themselves it has been the best part of running my Battlefield Tours and doing all the research i've done both British and German.

Tell Solly i hope he gave the guy with the gun some proper Police chastisement !!!

regards

Paul

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Paul, the guy who Solly caught had a long criminal record and had tried to con his way into a lady's house on the pretext of buying scrap silver and gold. He had frightened her and she ended up having a heart attack. This had got Solly really angry and he set off to bring this bloke in. He said he felt as though something or someone was guiding him and looking after him. Here is a link to the London Gazette with Solly's entry. You can then open it as a PDF file:

Gazette Website: PDF Navigator

I feel truly honoured to know all of these Vets. I have got a huge amount of pleasure from knowing them all.

Cheers, Ade.

[Paul D]

Oh yes a great story i bet the bloke got a bit !!!!

Nice to go back to the days when the Sgt's left the station and did some old fashioned coppering not like the modern ones who think that they are managers and just have to shuffle paper !!

Send Solly and the boys my regards when you see them next.

[kelly28]

Hi there, i was just wondering if somebody could help. My Grandad was a pathfinder in 1944. His was in a company that was led by Major Alan Parry. I have looked at the photos of the reunion and think i might reconise some of the people there. Sadly my grandad died in 1993, but i would love to know more of what he did and have many pictures from merville battery and of other reunions.

[Chopperman]

When I very first attended a reunion I was in awe of these men. They were, quite literally, people of whom I had read about in books. But one of the guys, Solly, (seated second from the left) told me not to treat them as heros or put them on a pedestal. He said they were ordinary guys doing a job

Ade,
For the longest time I was totally obsessed with my friend and
neighbors ww2 service and his relationship to Gen Patton.

Once I got past that and took more of an interest in him as a
person, we became better friends. He would much rather talk to me about his collection of fishing lures and rescent auction finds
then about his memories of the war.

[Ty Revelo]

Chopperman, someday share your stories that he has told you. All of these stories are interesting and are just little pieces of the whole puzzle of the war.

rgds, Ty

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Kelly28, welcome to the forum!

The Officer you mention was not in the XXI, so I doubt that he served with these men? But you mention Normandy, so your Grandad may well have been in the 22nd Indep Para Coy. See if his name is on this list here:

Affilated Groups - 22 Ind Parachute Coy, 6th Airborne

Hi Greg, you are right. My relationship with the Vets has moved on to friendship and we talk about everything and not just their military service anymore.


Cheers, Ade.

[Jumper]

Hi Ade, Alan Parry was company commander of A Coy, 9th bat and stayed with them through to the Rhine Crossing, he was a friend of my fathers who served in C-coy.
He was in a 10 man advance party who jumped in with the pathfinders on D-day. He was awarded the Military Cross.
Doug

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Doug, thanks for the post.

Sadly since this old thread was started we have lost many more Vets.

Cheers, Ade.

[Jumper]

Hi Ade
Yes it is a shame we are losing them too fast now, luckily my dads still with us, he was interviewed at Merville this year by the bbc for their series Regimental stories, 2 hrs it took and they only used about a minute of it, gutted.
Cheers
Doug