Albert Francis McCarthy was the son of Henry and Gwenllian McCarthy, of Cardiff. He enlisted in the General Service Corps, and volunteered for airborne forces.

Sergeant McCarthy successfully completed Glider Pilot training and was posted to B Squadron, Flight 20, Chalk number 306, The Glider Pilot Regiment, and took part in Operation Market Garden (Arnhem).

Sgt McCarthy took off from RAF Manston in a Horsa Glider towed by an Albemarle aircraft and landed on Drop Zone ‘S’ on 17 September. He was wounded at some stage by a Mortar bomb and taken to the Tafelberg Hotel and died of his wounds on 18 September 1944, aged 19, and is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial to the missing.