Sydney R G Nunn

Sydney (Syd) Nunn was born in 1919 soon after his father came home from army service in the 1st World War. There wasn’t a lot of money or jobs about for a bricklayer and Syd’s mother was often forced to pawn her only thing of value, her wedding ring to get food at the weekends, redeeming it when her husband collected his dole money the following week.

Syd served with The York and Lancs Regiment and Medium Machine-Gun Group (MMG), Support Company, 7th (Galloway) Battalion, The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB)

However, like many other families at that time, they survived. Luckily, he didn’t wear out much shoe leather when he went to school, the school gates being opposite his own front door in Kimberley Road, West Ham, which he happily attended until he was 14.

Then came trudging the streets of London looking for a job, eventually getting one as a messenger boy. On long-distance jobs being 2d or 3d bus fare, he walked instead and spent the money on a 1d mug of tea and a 2d London Cheesecake.

He later worked at The Central Drawing Office in London Wall, making enlargements of plans for maps and for architect, printing on huge sheets of linen. He stayed there until he was called up in early 1940.

He joined The York and Lancs Regiment. Although being warned by his dad not to volunteer for anything in the army, he did just that when asked if anyone could ride a motorcycle and thence becoming a dispatch rider. He transferred to The King’s Own Scottish Borderers Regiment escorting convoys around the country. The job wasn’t so good when he was transferred to the Shetland Islands in the winter of 1941, a very bitter one. Every morning, the first job was to locate your motorcycle, then dig it out of 6ft or more snowdrifts, then drive around the coast looking for any enemy landings. The enemy had more sense, and none were ever seen.

He was 23 years old and a member of the 7th KOSB MMG Group. Since the Borderers had moved to Keevil in anticipation of an airborne operation, he had been longing to get into action as he hated their new camp, largely due to a mole which insisted on repeated attempts to burrow its way into his mattress at night. When asked for volunteers to become part of an airborne force, he and many of his mates went for it. Training with the Paras began and ended with them going to the Netherlands and taking part in the 10-day Battle of Arnhem in September 1944.

He flew to Arnhem on the First Lift inside a glider carrying a jeep. After about an hour in the air the glider entered a cloud bank, but when it came out the other side it was seen that the tow rope had wrapped itself around the port wing. One of the glider pilots shouted "I'm in trouble! I'm in trouble!" and moments later they cast off. Nunn recalled "We seemed to come to a dead stop in the air, then the glider's nose dropped, and we careened earthwards with the tow rope streaming alongside like a broken kite string". The steep descent provoked a terrifying noise as the air rushed along the length of the fuselage, and furthermore all that prevented Nunn and his comrades from being crushed to death by the Jeep were the chains that held it in place, and all were unsure if they would take the strain. Despite a rough landing, bouncing upon contact with the ground before coming to a gradual halt, everyone was unhurt and were able to fly to Arnhem with the Second Lift on the following day.

 Nunn fought in the Oosterbeek Perimeter. During the battle he had become friends with a glider pilot in a neighbouring slit trench. Once the mortaring of their area had ceased this man pointed out to Nunn that over to their right was a Tiger Tank. Such a monstrous vehicle was a challenge to disable, never mind destroy, even if the proper equipment was to hand, but those in the area were only armed with light weapons. However, they spotted a concealed anti-tank gun in some nearby bushes; the crew of which had been killed. No one in the vicinity knew how to operate the gun, but undeterred Nunn and the glider pilot crawled out to it. En route the tank spotted them and opened fire, first with its main weapon, bringing down trees around the two of them and forcing them to crawl forward with their faces pressed into the dirt, then with its machinegun, but no hits were scored. The pair made it to the gun and by pure luck found that it just happened to be aimed perfectly at the tank. The glider pilot pulled the trigger, which resulted in a huge explosion that blew both men clean off their feet and onto their backs. When the ringing in their ears had stopped, they heard the laughs and cheers of their comrades around them. Nunn and his friend looked up to see that the Tiger was completely engulfed in flames. "Our game I think." said the glider pilot as he shook Syd's hand.

 He was one of the lucky ones to be rescued by Canadian troops crossing the Rhine in inflatable boats mainly picking them up under heavy gunfire. As he was on his way to the evacuation area on Monday 25th, Syd and some fellow Borderers were involved in a brief confrontation with German infantry. During this skirmish he was dealt his only injury of the battle when shrapnel landed close to him, hit a pebble, and ricocheted up at his face, chipping one of his front teeth. 

 Successfully evacuated Syd returned to England and after a couple of weeks’ leave and a parade through London and tea with King George, Queen Elizabeth and the two Princesses at “Buck House” as the men called Buckingham Palace, he accompanied the Battalion to Norway where they oversaw the surrender of the occupying German forces and “Quislings” (German collaborators). 

While here there came news that a film was to be made about Arnhem, “Theirs is the Glory”, and due to his interest in photography and the cinema it was with some delight that Nunn returned to England to participate in the production. The film had to be made shortly after the war ended to ensure it was authentic and before the Dutch got to work restoring their beautiful city and surrounding villages. 

The film was made entirely with the actual troops who had been at Arnhem. Filming took place around Arnhem and Oosterbeek and Nunn had an acting role, but also gave assistance to the director, writer, make-up artist, and cameraman. On his walks around the area, he stumbled across several dead airborne soldiers, still in their slit trenches from the previous year, and he reported these to the War Graves Commission who gave these men a proper burial alongside their fallen comrades in the War Cemetery at Oosterbeek.

After his demob in May 1946, he returned to his job at the Central Drawing Office. He joined English Electric, later to become British Aircraft Corporation, in the mid-50s as an industrial photographer. He then joined Kodak where he worked until his retirement in 1983.

In retirement he was a regular visitor to Arnhem each year for the commemoration services. 

Syd and his wife Doreen were married for 55 years and lived most of their life together in Stevenage in Hertfordshire.