Private. William John Golding Russell. Signals Platoon, 2nd Parachute Battalion. The son of Henry George Russell, and of Florence Clara Russell, of Chatham

William ‘Bill’ Russell enlisted into the Royal Engineers on the 21 st September 1938, as a boy soldier. The unit he went on to serve with was a Searchlight Regiment, which later on was transferred to the Royal Artillery, and he was serving with this unit, as a Gunner, when he volunteered for Airborne Forces. [1]

He passed Parachute Course 64 at RAF Ringway, 10– 21 May 1943. This was a Long Course for reinforcements for the Parachute Brigades'. His Parachute Instructors comments: ‘Has gained confidence and made satisfactory progress.’ [2]
Bill was then posted to the 2nd Parachute Battalion, at that time recovering in North Africa, from the recent campaign in Tunisia.

It is not known if he took part in the operations in Sicily or Italy. By the summer of 1944 he was a member of the Signals Platoon, based at Stoke Rochford Hall, Lincolnshire. He served as a Signaller in Battalion Headquarters.

On Sunday, 17 September 1944, he took off from Saltby Aerodrome, aboard a Dakota aircraft of the 314th Troop Carrier Group, USAAF, bound for DZ ‘X’ near Renkum in Holland, as part of Operation ‘MARKET’. He parachuted successfully onto the drop zone, made it to the RV, carrying a radio set, and marched with the Battalion to Arnhem Bridge.

He was killed in action on Tuesday, 19 September, which was witnessed by another member of the Signals Platoon, Pte. ‘Syd’ Davies:

‘Mark Kelly and I were detailed to connect as many positions as possible by landline, so loaded up with cable, we crawled through entries and ruined houses. Support Company gave us a meal, they were the lucky ones, they were in a well stocked family house. A sick old lady was in bed there, she was a very cheerful person and did my morale a world of good. I also met a friend, ‘Bill’ Fishwick, who gave me some cigarettes. At one station, Mark and I climbed through a rear window, to connect a telephone. In this room was my mate ‘Bill’ Russell and a Royal Corps of Sigs Sgt. After passing a few bits of information to them we took our leave by climbing back again through the window on to and out of the house. There was a loud bang, lots of dust, and then nothing. Mark and I climbed back into the room. ‘Bill’ was dead by his Set. The Sgt, what was left of him, NOT A NICE SIGHT, was in a corner. I contacted HQ and informed Sgt. Cloves of the situation.’ [3]

Bill was 22 years old when he was killed. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial, panel 9.

NOTES:
[1] The Parachute Regiment, Transfer & Enlistment Book 09, page 24.
[2] Parachute Course Report, RAF. Ringway. May 1943.
[3] Account by Sydney Davies. 18 March 1987.

Written and researched by Robert Hilton.