Major Stanley C Panter MC, TD

Stanley Charles Panter, the son of Charles and Mabel Panter was born in Worcestershire in 1909. He married Mary Bryant in London on 21 September 1929 and they went on to have five children.

In August 1939 he enlisted into the 9th (2nd City of London) Royal Fusiliers, having previously been in the Territorial Army in Tooting London. After serving in France and Belgium, he was granted an emergency commission with The Royal Fusiliers on 28 December 1940.

He volunteered for airborne forces shortly after the formation of the 1st Parachute Brigade in late 1941. By July 1942 he was commanding an experimental airborne platoon nicknamed “Panter’s Pirates” although his formal transfer to the Army Air Corps is not recorded in the London Gazette until 1 August 1942.

Lieutenant Panter served with the 2nd Parachute Battalion (2nd Para Bn) in North Africa on Operation Torch, where led a successful operational jump with parachute mortars over Tunis in December, 1942 and earned the nickname ‘Bombs’.

Acting Captain Panter went to Italy with the 2nd Para Bn and dropped into Sicily on Operation Husky, where he was awarded a Military Cross for his gallantry while serving with A Company.

He jumped into Arnhem on Operation Market Garden on the afternoon of 17 September 1944, as the Officer Commanding Support Company, 2nd Para Bn. He was wounded and eventually captured as a Prisoner of War on Thursday 21 September 1944, he managed to escape for a hospital but was recaptured later at the river. A/Capt Panter was initially sent to Stalag XIIA at Limburg before transfer to Oflag XIIB and eventually Oflag 79 at Brunswick,(the former home of a German Parachute Regiment) until liberated in April 1945 by the U.S. Ninth Army.

After the war he served in the Territorial Army with The Royal Fusiliers, and transferred to the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers in 1954 where he remained until 24 November 1959.

Below you can read Major Panter’s diary extract for Operation Market Garden.