The Reader’s Digest Association Limited, 25 Berkeley Square, London W1.

20^th April, 1967.

W.F. Chandler, Esq.,

118 Norwood Road,

Tulse Hill,

London. S.E. 24.

Dear Mr. Chandler,

Your name appears in the records of those who may have taken part in the airborne assault on Holland in September, 1944. I am therefore writing to ask for your help with some research that we are doing on behalf of Mr. Cornelius Ryan, author of The Longest day and, more recently, The Last battle.

Would you be kind enough to answer the following questions in the spaces provided. Please return this letter to me as soon as possible so that Mr. Ryan may include your experiences in the account of the airborne invasion of Holland which he is planning to write. The book will include a chapter entitled “Where They Are Today”, in which your name and occupation will be listed with full acknowledgement. Your assistance will be very much appreciated.

Yours Sincerely,

Michael Randolph,

Editor, British Editions.

1). Are your name and address correct on this letter? If not, please amend them.

Yes.

 2). If you can be reached by telephone, please give number.

---

3). What is your present occupation?

Instrument maker.

 4). What was your rank and unit in September 1944?

Trooper, 1^st Airborne Recce Squadron.

 5). What was your age in September 1944?

22.

6). Were you engaged or married then? To whom? If married, did you have any children at that time?

Single.

7). Where were you born?

Kensington, London.

8). What previous action had you seen?

Italian landing at Taranto.

 9). When did you learn that you were going to take part in the operation in Holland?

2 or 3 days before.

 10). What was your reaction? Were you, for example, anxious, resigned or relieved to be going into action?

Well, we must have been briefed quite a few times on previous plans which were cancelled, including the planned drop south of Paris on the German HQ. I was glad to be doing something at last.

 11). What was the trip like into Holland? Did you see anything unusual? Do you remember any conversations you had, or how you passed the time on the journey?

The usual green faces, with dry remarks. Flooding of some of the land below. A smooth flight. I remember one lad getting hit in the plane, his days work was done. Not much ack ack. Slightly apprehensive

12). How did you feel about a daylight operation? Do you recall any conversations with your friends about it? What was said?

Too busy getting kitted up as usual and preparing. I think it was taken for granted it would be a day drop. I believe when men are as fit as near perfect, they don’t worry if its night or day. They were always joking.

13). What were the rumours? Had you heard, for example, that if the invasion of Holland was successful, the war would be over by the coming winter?

Something like this, but always taken with the usual scepticism.

14). Did you keep a diary or notebook of what happened to you during any part of September, 1944? Do you still have it?

Only a POW diary and writings of past army life, something to do I suppose. I still have it.

 15). Were any of your friends killed or wounded on the day of the drop or on subsequent days?

Quite a few.

16). Do you remember any conversations you had with them before they became casualties?

One chap, forget his name, fancied a cup of tea as the mortars were exploding in the trees.

17). Were you wounded or captured during this period? Can you give details?

I was wounded and my pal Miles with me. He was worse than I.

*They put him out with the dead, but when he came too, he told the M.O’s what he thought.*

[Researchers Note: He was not there – told this later by Miles, who said he understood where he was when he tried to speak to the chap next to him.]

 18). Do you remember any significant dealings you may have had with Dutch civilians or members of the Dutch Underground? Please explain.

I remember the Dutch farm people, who were very glad to see us. One was quite proud to be English.

19). What do you recall most vividly about the country of Holland?

A smell of pine, clear, clean air, rain, very close woods.

20). Do you recall any incidents with the Germans – fights, surrenders, truces or conversations you may have had with them afterwards?

In about 9 days the Gerry’s came and took over the house at Oosterbeek, one got hit in the door [way], some of the lads said to put him down with us “theirs room”.

21). Do you know of others who took part in the operation, to whom we might write? Please give their names and last-known addresses.

1. King, Bob Smith, Reg Garwood,              Ted Hares,

Sunnybank,                  St Germains Hotel,       16 Larwood Ave,          B.A.A.

Compton,                     Forest Hill,                   Romford,                      London Airport,

Nr Newbury,                SE 23.                          ESSEX.                        (Driver)

BERKS.

22). Do you recall seeing or hearing anything that seems humorous now, even though it may not have seemed so at the time?

If the German superman who guarded us as we laid on the floor at Oosterbeek, only knew that a few revolvers were pointing at him under the blankets!

23). Do you recall any incident, sad or heroic or simply memorable, which struck you more than anything else?

My [old] Section Officer, Lt. Christie, who tried to knock off a S.P. Gun crew.

 24). In times of crisis, people generally show great ingenuity or self-reliance; others sometimes do stupid things.

Do you recall any examples of either?

I remember Major Gough, who was my C.O. in Italy, washing his feet in a bowl, when it was just getting towards dusk and somebody from a distance opened fire at him. He carried on doing his feet, wiping  them, and calmly emptied the water as if nothing happened.

*1).

If you need extra space for your answers to any questions, please write below. When you have completed this Questionnaire, we would appreciate your returning it in the enclosed reply-paid envelope. We shall, of course, acknowledge it. Thank you very much for your help.

*1). Maybe I’m one of the bad one’s, I lived, but even as it was such a long time ago, I will never forget the faces of comrades whom I knew.

 I remember the time we were on our way home from Africa 1943, and our three funnelled troop-ship collided with another liner somewhere off Gib and after some slight panic some cockney yelled out across the water, “why don’t you look where your bloody going!”

 On the first day the landing was easy, a few mortar bombs landing. Men walking, well separated, out towards the rendezvous, linking up with my unit, all correct, the last words from my Scotch pal, who was the driver in the jeep, “just to keep my finger on the Bren gun trigger”. I had to leave him for a patrol towards the bridge, he was shot later, I heard. Took about an hour to die.

 I remember we got held up by bullets so close they stung. One just hugs mother-earth and keeps very close whilst pointing the gun at where one thinks the enemy is and opens fire, up again, further on mortar bombs, some figures way over the field from the wood, more aiming and firing. One Jerry, who was sitting in a ditch was already dead, got shot again [My note: this was earlier on at Wolfheze railway crossing area].

 This was more or less the pattern for about 4 hrs approximately, and then my pal and I went out towards a jeep on fire, a body still in the seat. That’s when I collected a slight ???? of 4 bullets. To this day I owe my life to ‘Midge’ Miles and an M.O. who came and pulled me back. My wounds were nothing [compared] to some.

 3^rd August, 1967.

1. Chandler, Esq.,

118 Norwood Road,

Tulse Hill,

London. S.E. 24.

Dear Mr. Chandler,

I’d like to thank you for completing the questionnaire I sent you recently concerning Cornelius Ryan’s new book on the airborne invasion of Holland. I have read it with a great deal of interest and there are a few further questions I’d like to ask.

First, what is your full Christian name? Was your rank “trooper” or “Private”?

The Jerry sitting in the ditch, already dead, as you advance in toward Arnhem on the first day: Did you see him? Was he slumped over a machine-gun or just sitting there, possibly still holding his rifle?

You mentioned your pal, “Midge” Miles, who pulled you back after you had been hit going toward a jeep with a body still in it. Was the jeep British or German? Where were you hit? Can you give details? Do you remember Miles Christian name and his rank. Was he hit at the same time? Where (chest, arms, legs)?

At the Aid Post where you were taken: Can you give any idea where it was? A proper hospital, a house or a hotel? Do you remember anything about it or any specific landmarks nearby? Was Miles unconscious when they carried him out and put him with the dead? Did you see them do it and did you assume, too, that he was dead? How long was he out there before he either came back himself or they brought him back inside? What did he say? Did you say anything to him? Did you have a revolver under the blanket pointing at your German “guards”? When did you get rid of it?

Please answer as completely and in as much detail as possible and return your answers as quickly as you can in the enclosed SAE.

Thank you again for your help and interest. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,

???? Kelly.

Trooper. William Francis Chandler.                                                                

C Troop, 1^st Airborne Reconnaissance Sqdn.

Letter 7 August 1967.

Chandler remembers the first day of the operation and moving in toward the Bridge at Arnhem. He says the bullets were so close “they stung”. Enroute in, they passed a dead Jerry in a trench. “He was sitting in a ditch, helmet on, with his rifle resting against him, butt in the ground, someone shot him again, Midge (Trooper “Midge” Miles – can’t remember Christian name) went over, lifted up the German’s helmet and took a look. He made an expression like he’d just smelt bad fish”.

Later that same day, Chandler and Miles approached a British jeep with a body of a British soldier still in it. The jeep was on fire. As Chandler went up to the jeep, shots rang out. “The first one either went just under my helmet, through the top part of my left ear or hit the helmet and caused the ear to bleed, the second one in the posterior, and the third in the back, while I was having a ride on the stretcher. To this day, I only remember collecting three, but I have four scars. Miles was hit while going to get a stretcher for me. Mortar got him. I saw him in Apeldoorn maybe two weeks later, and he had lost 2 ½ fingers”.

 Chandler recalls being taken to an Aid Post near a railroad, then moved back to a hospital near the cross-roads at Oosterbeek for five or six days. “I recall a German came in the door one day and showed us his particular kind of arrogance by scoffing at the wounded. As he went out the door, he got hit by something someone threw and one of the lads called out, ‘put him over here. There’s room!’”

 Another time, Chandler remembers those who could walk (he couldn’t – he had to lie flat on his stomach on the stretcher) gathered around a window as Brigadier ‘Shan’ Hackett passed with a patrol. He was wearing his red beret, while the rest had helmets on. “I remember one chap yelling out something like, ‘Hey, Brigadier! Put your bloody helmet back on!’ They told me he just waved back at them”.

Transcribed from original documents by Robert Hilton.