Sergeant William H Surman BEM

William Henry Surman was serving in the 1st Battalion, The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry(OBLI) when he volunteered for Airborne Forces in 1942.

Pte Surman was on parachute course 21 or 22 at RAF Ringway in August 1942, after which he was posted to the 3rd Parachute Battalion. He became the battalion’s carpenter & joiner, working out of the Quartermaster’s Stores and, eventually, his own workshop

He served in North Africa and Italy with the battalion, November 1942 to December 1943. Back in England, he was based at Spalding in Lincolnshire, he continued to serve as the unit carpenter & joiner. In August 1944 he went to France as part of the Seaborne Echelon for future airborne operations and travelled up to Nijmegen in Holland in September 1944 as part of ‘Operation Market Garden’. The Seaborne Echelon returned to England at the beginning of October 1944. ‘Bill’ later worked at The Depot, The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces. First as a Pioneer Cpl and then later as a skilled civilian. A highlight of his service at Depot was in 1962 when he created a working full size mode of an Argosy aircraft with was displayed at the Edinburgh Tattoo.  This long period of service was recorded in The Pegasus Journal below. 

Write-up for ‘Bill’ Surman, BEM, taken from The Pegasus Journal, January 1979.

His many friends will hardly believe it, but ‘Bill’ Surman has finally retired, and with his departure there ends a truly remarkable epoch of unbroken service at the Depot, which will probably never be equalled. After fifteen years service in peace and war with the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and The Parachute Regiment he found himself in 1947, posted to the Depot The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces as Pioneer Corporal; and he was to serve there, first as soldier and later as civilian, continuously for thirty one years. During this long period ‘Bill’ was to become one of the great post war characters of the Regiment and an institution in his own right. A man of great skill, with many talents, he was a master craftsman by any standards – who will ever forget the marvellous working scale model of an Argosy aircraft he made for the Edinburgh Tattoo in 1962 – nothing was ever too difficult, or too technical, or indeed too much trouble for him, and he was equally at home doing the ordinary run of the mill pioneer tasks as he was building a television set to watch TV from Moscow. Examples of his work abound here in the Depot and elsewhere, and those who own presentation Parachute Soldier Statuettes will have their own personal memento, for he designed, built and mounted all the bases. The carved ornamental plinth which holds the Regimental Roll of Honour in the Royal Garrison Church of All Saints, Aldershot, will provide a lasting example of his beautiful workmanship. A loyal and devoted servant of the Regiment and a kind endearing personality, ‘Bill’ Surman retired on the 9 August 1978 and our picture shows him, after a very good lunch, with some of the gifts presented to him at the time. To him and his wife Dorothy, we all wish a long, happy and contented retirement.