T/10690465. Driver. Thomas Brennan. HQ-Company, 11^th Parachute Battalion.

Thomas Brennan was born on the 27 May 1909, the son of Joseph and Alice Brennan. He came from Crosby Green, Liverpool and was married to Winifred Edith Brennan. His civilian occupation was Taxi driver.

He enlisted on the 20 April 1942, and was posted to the 250^th (Airborne) Light Composite Company, RASC on the 7 February 1944, where he was assigned to ‘A’ (Airfield) Platoon. At some stage after this he was ‘X’ Listed and was then posted to the 11^th Parachute Battalion. As he was not parachute trained, he would have been sent to the Motor Transport Platoon.

He flew to Arnhem on the 2^nd Lift, Monday, 18 September 1944, to take part in Operation ‘MARKET’. It is likely that his glider was hit by enemy fire as it came in to land (see the account by Sgt. Sampey), and that he was killed on this day.

Thomas was reported as killed in action on the 25 September 1944, and was initially buried in an open field, along with several others, on the Klein Amerikaweg, on Renkum Heath.

He now lies at rest in the Arnhem/Oosterbeek CWGC Cemetery, 29. B. 4.

Researched and written by Robert Hilton