1st British Airborne Division
Arnhem, September 1944
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The service number of each person is (when known) given after the date of commissioning. Most officers had only a wartime career, but when no indication is given about a Territorial Army commission or an emergency commission, the officer involved served as a Regular Army officer, with in most cases an active army career before and after the war. For explanations & abbreviations you can look at the help page.

 
N
Naylor,
John Denis
J.D. Naylor

Son of ... Naylor, and ... Foster.
08.05.1916
Wandsworth district, London
-
05.06.1983
Newbury district, Berkshire
2nd Lt. 26.09.1942
WS/Lt. 26.03.1943
T/Capt. 1944?
26.09.1942     commissioned, Indian Army [emergency commission]
(09.1944)     Adjutant Royal Army Service Corps, 1st Airborne Division (Arnhem)
Neale,
Francis John Thomson
F.J.T. Neale (Photo from www.paradata.org.uk)
Only son of Capt. Alan Skeffington Neale (1891-1960), and Eileen Monica Hicks, of Grantham.
Married (18.12.1943, St Michael and All Angels, Cosby, Blaby district, Leicestershire) Sheena Mary Martin Gimson ((09?).1919 - 25.12.2009), of Cosby, Leicestershire, later of Horley, Surrey, elder daughter of Mr & Mrs Martin Gimson; one daughter. Sheena Neale remarried (09.01.1947, St Michael's Church, Cosby, Blaby district, Leicestershire) Robert Douglas Brice Robathan (1917-2000).

13.10.1919
Leicester district, Leicestershire
-
26.09.1944
(KIA) [age 24]
[Amerongen (Holleweg) General Cemetery, grave 2]
2nd Lt. 11.12.1937 [73653]
WS/Lt. 11.12.1940
T/Capt. 13.11.1942-26.09.1944
Mention in Despatches MID 20.06.1946 services in the field (Arnhem)
11.12.1937     commissioned, Royal Regiment of Artillery - Territorial Army
24.08.1939     mobilized TA
17.09.1942     transferred, Glider Pilot Regiment - Army Air Corps
(09.1944)     Officer Commanding, B Squadron (No. 1 Wing), Glider Pilot Regiment (Arnhem; drowned whilst trying to cross the Lower Rhine during the evacuation)
Neill,
William
"Jock"
W. Neill

Son (wuth three brothers and two sisters) of Jhn Neill (1878-), and Helen Short Stewart Fleming (1888-).
Married Morag ...; one daughter, three sons.

08.10.1913
-
04.09.1985
Hobart, Tasmania
2nd Lt. 09.08.1941 [200852]
WS/Lt. 09.08.1941
T/Capt. 02.01.1943
WS/Capt. 03.06.1944
T/Maj. ?
Hon. Maj. 1945/46 (retd)
Distinguished Service Order DSO 09.11.1944 Arnhem 09.1944
09.08.1941     commissioned, The Border Regiment [emergency commission]
(09.1944)     Officer Commanding, C Company, 1st Battalion The Border Regiment (Arnhem [evacuated])
Served with the African police. Emigrated to Tasmania.
Newby,
Edgar Gordon
E.G. Newby (© Imperial War Museum H 40914)
Married ((03?).1941, Dartford district, Kent) Edna M. Draper.
27.09.1916
-
01.11.1995
Stone Dartford, Gravesend district, Kent
Cadet ?
2nd Lt. 03.10.1942 [247382]
WS/Lt. 03.04.1943
T/Capt. 21.08.1943
03.10.1942     commissioned into the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers [emergency commission]
(09.1944)     Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Officer, 1st Airlanding Brigade (Arnhem [?])
Chief officer of Licensing Department, London.
Newport,
Edward Selwyn
"Ted"
E.S. Newport
Son of ... Newport, and ... Littlefour.
13.08.1921
Stockport district, Cheshire / Lancashire
-
2nd Lt. 24.08.1939 [96393]
WS/Lt. 02.03.1941
Lt. 31.08.1946, seniority 13.02.1944
A/Capt. 03.01.1946-02.04.1946
T/Capt. 03.04.1946-06.02.1947
WS/Capt. 07.02.1947
Capt. 13.08.1948
A/Maj. 07.11.1946-06.02.1947
T/Maj. 07.02.1947-19.04.1949, 28.07.1952-15.11.1952
Maj. 13.08.1955
Lt.Col. 07.04.1964
Col. 31.12.1969, seniority 30.06.1969 (retd 03.04.1974)
Territorial Efficiency Decoration TD ? ?
Education: Durham Cathedral Chorister School; Beaconsfield School, Low Fell.
24.08.1939     commissioned into The Durham Light Infantry - Territorial Army
24.08.1939 - 30.08.1946 mobilized TA:
(09.1944)     Officer Commanding, 1 Anti-Tank Platoon (Support Company), 1st Battalion The Border Regiment (Arnhem [wounded, POW])
31.08.1946     transferred to The Border Regiment [from 01.10.1959 The King's Own Border Regiment]
27.04.1949 - 30.04.1950 Instructor, All Arms Wing, School of Signals
28.03.1953 - 30.01.1954 General Staff Officer, 3rd grade (GSO3), War Office
18.02.1954 - 14.04.1955 Staff Captain, War Office
Newton Dunn,
Owen Frank
O.F. Newton Dunn (Photo courtesy of Mr Bob Gerritsen)

Son (with two brothers) of Thomas William Newton Dunn (1880-1966), and Frances Lucy Owen (1882-1972).
Married ((09?).1939, Aldershot district, Hampshire) Barbara Mary Brooke (26.01.1916 - 30.06.1995), daughter of Francis Ralph Russell Brooke (1884-1960), and Mary Henrietta Leigh-Mallory (1885-1980);
... children (one son?).
28.12.1911
Bath district, Somerset
-
10.01.1995

Greywell, Basingstoke district, Hampshire
2nd Lt. 27.08.1931 [52613]
Lt. 27.08.1934
Capt. 27.08.1939
A/Maj. 02.06.1941-01.09.1941
T/Maj. 02.09.1941-30.06.1946
Maj. 01.07.1946
A/Lt.Col. 28.02.1946-16.05.1946
T/Lt.Col. 15.01.1948-15.04.1951
Lt.Col. 30.06.1955 (Emp. List (1)) (retd 04.02.1961)
Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE 11.06.1960 HM's birthday 1960 [recommendation available upon request]
Education: Staff College, Camberley (psc).
27.08.1931 - 22.07.1939 commissioned, The Wiltshire Regiment (1st & 2nd Battalions)
23.07.1939 - 03.09.1939 Instructor
21.02.1944 - 13.11.1944 General Staff Officer 2nd grade (GSO2) (Operations), 1st Airborne Division (Arnhem)
01.12.1944 - 24.07.1945 Instructor, Canadian Staff College
01.09.1945 - 30.11.1945 General Staff Officer 2nd grade (GSO2), CTC (M)
01.12.1945 - 15.01.1946 General Staff Officer 2nd grade (GSO2), CTC Dundonald
20.12.1947 - 14.01.1948 General Staff Officer 2nd grade (GSO2), High Commissioner Office, Secretariat, Vienna
15.01.1948 - 15.01.1949 General Staff Officer 1st grade (GSO1), Sec. ACA
16.01.1949 - 24.03.1949 Staff Officer 1st grade (SO1), Sec. ACA 
25.03.1949 - 31.03.1950 Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General (AA&QMG), BTA
17.04.1950 - 15.04.1951 General Staff Officer 1st grade (GSO1), HQ School of Infantry
13.07.1953 - 27.05.1956 General Staff Officer 1st grade (GSO1), Royal Hong Kong Defence Force
07.1958 - 07.1960 Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General (AA&QMG), HQ Berlin Infantry Brigade Group (OBE)
Nicholson,
John Robert
A.A. Vickers
15.06.1923
-
10.1996
Canterbury district, Kent
Cadet ? [5576999]
2nd Lt. 01.04.1944 [314211]
WS/Lt. 01.10.1944
A/Capt. 01.06.1946-31.08.1946
T/Capt. 01.09.1946-09.08.1947 (Unemployed List 10.08.1947-30.04.1955)
Lt. 01.05.1955, seniority 21.06.1951
Capt. 26.06.1955
2nd Lt. 03.05.1958, seniority 20.11.1950
Lt. 03.05.1958, seniority 20.11.1952
Capt. 03.05.1958, seniority 20.11.1956
Maj. 20.11.1963
Lt.Col. 31.12.1970, seniority 30.06.1970 (Special List 15.06.1973) (retd 15.12.1976)
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) OBE 01.01.1973 New Year 1973
Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) MBE 02.07.1957 Cyprus 01-06.1957
      served in the ranks for 2 years, 63 days
01.04.1944     commissioned, Parachute Regiment - Army Air Corps [emergency commission to 17.05.1953]
(09.1944)     Officer Commanding, 2 Platoon (A Company), 11th Parachute Battalion (Arnhem [captured])
09.1944 - 04.1945 POW (No. 2158) in German captivity (Oflag 9A/H, Spangenburg)
18.05.1953     Territorial Army commission
01.05.1955     short service commission, Royal Army Educational Corps
03.05.1958     permanent commission, Intelligence Corps
Noble,
Charles Bruce
C.B. Noble (Photo courtesy of Mr Anthony Bruce Noble)
Son (with one brother) of James Bruce Noble, a mining engineer, and Shelagh McLean, a school teacher.
Married ((03?).1949, Rowley Regis district, Staffordshire) Violet E.T. "Lysbeth" Plant, the daughter of an English country doctor from the Midlands near Wolverhampton; three daughters, two sons.
07.10.1919
Blantyre, Scotland
-
21.12.1997
New Zealand
Lt. 10.07.1943 [279738]
WS/Capt. 10.07.1944 (reld 09.11.1956; on appointment to a TA commission in New Zealand Army)
Education: medical school, University of Glasgow (MB, ChB Glasg, 06.11.1942); FRCS (Eng, 1951).
10.07.1943     commissioned, Royal Army Medical Corps [emergency commission]
(09.1944)     Section Officer J, 133rd Parachute Field Ambulance (Arnhem [POW, escaped & recaptured; was hidden by resistance member W.A. Lensvelt])
09.1944 - 04.1945 POW (No. 1781) in German captivity (Stalag XIB, Fallingbostel) (liberation report)
1945 - 1946? served in Palestine (bullet wound while shooting at a rabbit)
He carried out his specialist training in London and Manchester, immediately post-demobilisation, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. In 1952 he emigrated to New Zealand, taking up the position of consulting surgeon at Wanganui Hospital, where he remained until his retirement, also running a busy private practice.
His son writes: "One of his more amusing anecdotes (black humour) described how he dropped by parachute during darkness into a tree. When daylight came he found his feet were only inches above the ground. Gunfire was all around him. He heard running footsteps and a German soldier came into view, took careful aim and missed with his first shot. Meanwhile, Charles was urgently undoing his tunic to draw his Walther automatic wrapped in a scarf inside his tunic. As the German took careful aim for his second shot, Charles fumbled and dropped his Walther onto the ground. The German - for reasons unknown, then ran off. He was hidden for a long period by the Dutch underground in underground 'hides' in a pine forest, along with US air force personnel and some Jewish families."
Noble,
Jeffrey Fraser
"Jeff"
J.F. Noble (Photo courtesy of Mr Tom Noble) J.F. Noble
J.F. Noble J.F. Noble 
Son of Percy G. Noble, and Mabel Fraser.
Married ((09?).1945, Ilford district, Essex) Lilian Rebecca Robinson; one son, two daughters.

15.10.1923
Romford district, Essex
-
04.06.2020
Liphook, Hampshire
2nd Lt. 15.05.1943 [276375]
2nd Lt. 23.03.1946, seniority 15.10.1944 [permanent commission]
WS/Lt. 15.11.1943
Lt. 15.04.1946
A/Capt. 12.03.1946-11.06.1946
T/Capt. 12.06.1946-30.08.1948,
11.09.1949-31.07.1950
Capt. 15.10.1950 (retd 01.07.1957)
T/Maj. 07.10.1953-01.11.1956
Hon. Maj. 01.07.1957
Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division) MBE 17.06.1995 HM's birthday 1995: for services to the Royal British Legion, Geneva
Chevalier, Ordre National du Mérite (France) (24.05.1994).
      served in the ranks for 1 year, 2 days
15.05.1943     commissioned, The Parachute Regiment - Army Air Corps [emergency commission to 22.03.1946]
(09.1944)     Officer Commanding, Medium Machine gun Platoon (Support Company), 156th Parachute Battalion (Arnhem [wounded & captured])
09.1944 - 04?.1945 POW (No. 91017) in German captivity (Oflag 79, Braunschweig, Niedersachsen & Stalag XIIA, Limburg)
23.03.1946 - 01.07.1957 permanent commission, The Royal Fusiliers
Personnel director, Sussex (early 1970s). Vice-President, ITTE Brussels.
J.F. Noble
Norman-Walker,
Arthur Fairfax
A.F. Norman-Walker
Son of Col. Jack Norman Walker, CIE, Indian Medical Service, of Streatley, Berkshire.
His father changed the surname of Walker to Norman-Walker by deed poll of 05.08.1936.


04.08.1912
Nainital, India
-
22.09.1944
(KIA) [age 32]
[Groesbeek Memorial, panel 1]
2nd Lt.
01.09.1932 [53633]
Lt.
01.09.1935
A/Capt.
03.09.1939
Capt.
01.09.1940
T/Maj.
13.07.1942
Mention in Despatches MID
23.09.1943
North Africa
Education: Sherborne (1926.2-1930); Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
01.09.1932


commissioned, Royal Regiment of Artillery
(06.1933)


24th Field Brigade RA (Newcastle)
(01.1937)


1st Anti-Aircraft Brigade RA (Lichfield)
(01.1939)


4th Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA (Egypt)
(09.1944)


Officer Commanding, 1st Airlanding Light Battery RA (Arnhem [killed in action])
Norton,
Harold Martin Rex
H.M.R. Norton (Photo courtesy of Mrs Natalie Cooper) H.M.R. Norton
H.M.R. Norton

Son (with one brother) of Henry Hudson Norton (1885-1954), and Emily Gertrude Laws (1883-1951), of Elm, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
Engaged (08.1944) Margaret V. Sandall ((12?).1921 - ), only child of Alderman John Edward Sandall, JP (1889-1964), and Violet Ethel Walker (1895-1990), of Clarkson Avenue, Wisbech. Margaret eventually married (1947) Capt. John Derrick Bunkall (1921-1999), The Cambridgeshire Regiment.

06.12.1921
Kings Lynn district, Norfolk
-
24.03.1945
(KIA) [age 23]
[Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, 37.B.9]
2nd Lt. 02.05.1942 [233268]
WS/Lt. 02.11.1942
T/Capt. 1945?
02.05.1942     commissioned, The South Staffordshire Regiment [emergency commission]
14.12.1942     transferred, Glider Pilot Regiment - Army Air Corps
(09.1944)     Section Commander, B Squadron (No. 1 Wing), The Glider Pilot Regiment (Arnhem)
(1945) - 24.03.1945 Rhine Crossing [killed in action]
Norwood,
Carlisle
"Carl"


Son of Carlisle Norwood III (1873-1954), and May E Cowperthwaite (1887-1953).
Married three times (1934, 1945, 1977).
04.01.1909
Paris, France
-
11.07.2005
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
2nd Lt.
?
Lt.
?
?


commissioned into the Canadian Infantry Corps [emergency commission]

-
08.06.1944
21st Anti-Aircraft Regiment RCA
08.06.1944
-

No. A-34 Training Centre (Reinforcements) CIC



Canloan scheme: CDN/645
(09.1944)


Officer Commanding, 13 Platoon (B Company), 2nd Battalion The South Staffordshire Regiment (Arnhem [wounded, POW])
08.06.1945
-
05.10.1945
No. 4 District Depot (from Canadian Army Overseas) (struck off strength)

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