Sapper John Evans

John Evans was born around 1919, the son of John Anthony and Ann Evans, of Peterborough, Northamptonshire. No relatives have been traced by the Double Hills Memorial Group and nothing else is known of his family background or early service history. He was old enough to have been a pre-war regular in the Royal Engineers or to have joined at the early stages of the war and it is possible that he served with 9 Field Company in France, Sicily and Italy.

Operation Market Garden

The 9th returned to the UK from Italy (via North Africa) in SS Duchess of Bedford, landing at Liverpool on 12 December 1943 and moved to Lincolnshire. Company HQ was in the village of Tattershall and their billets were in the nearby village of Coningsby. The 9th soon became involved in a series of exercises in preparation for the invasion of Western Europe. In May 1944 the Company moved south to Hurn in Hampshire to prepare the airfield for Operation Overlord (D Day). They extended the runway and carried out other construction work before moving back to Lincolnshire in early June. A number of planned airborne operations were abandoned before the Company was finally redeployed in Operation Market (the Airborne element of Operation Market Garden).

Just after 10.00 hours on Sunday 17 September 1944 sixteen glider and tug combinations took off from RAF Keevil for Arnhem as part of Operation Market Garden. Horsa Glider RJ113 (Chalk 389) was in this group of aircraft and contained 21 men, including Sapper Evans, from No 1 Platoon 9th (Airborne) Field Company Royal Engineers. The glider was flown by S/Sgt L J Gardner and co-pilot Sgt R A Fraser from D Squadron, The Glider Pilot Regiment. It was towed by a Short Stirling, No LK 148 of 299 Squadron, 38 Group.

The tugs and gliders took a course north-west towards Gloucester to pick up Squadrons from Fairford and then headed out over the Severn and Bristol Channels to form up. Here Stirling LK 148 with Horsa Glider R113 took a turn south-west down the Bristol Channel with other aircraft and gliders, and made a turn east over Weston-Super-Mare and headed for Arnhem. 

While over the village of Farrington Gurney an explosion occurred in RJ113 splitting the glider in two. With no tail section the glider lost lift, broke its tow line and crashed into the Double Hills meadow near Paulton killing all occupants. The event was witnessed by the Stirling’s rear gunner who recalls watching the glider falling like a rock to earth after the explosion had occurred.

One villager was in the field picking blackberries at the time of the crash and was injured by flying metal fragments. The Stirling marked the spot by circling until they could see locals running to the crash site. This included Farmer Teak: 'When I arrived at the place of the crash I could see that there was nothing I could do. The soldiers had all been killed. It was gruesome.'

As a result of the explosion on board Sapper Evans and his comrades became the first casualties of Operation Market Garden. He is commemorated on the Double Hills memorial at the site of the crash along with the other 22 occupants of the glider.

Sapper Evans died on 17 September 1944, aged 25 years old. He is now buried in plot Y 281 at the Milton Road Cemetery, Weston Super Mare along with the other soldiers killed by the crash.

Further Reading:

Pronk, P, Airborne Engineers: The Shiny 9th (2001), R.N. Sigmond Publishing.