Sergeant James Muir

Sergeant James Muir, who came from Dunfermline, enlisted in the Army and volunteered for Airborne Forces in 1943.

He attended Parachute Training Course No 86 at RAF Ringway which ran from 4 to 19 October 1943. The course cadre comprised of 15 officers and 212 other ranks, who completed 1642 jumps between them. Winds were gusty through the whole course and really good parachuting weather was extremely rare. The outstanding feature of this course was the high injury rate which was mainly due to the rough weather conditions. Of the 16 injuries there was one fatal accident, and 8 'C' Class Injuries (e.g. concussion and bone fractures).

Sgt Muir received a good course report which notes "A good leader and has performed well throughout the course." On qualifying as a military parachutist he was posted to the 13th Parachute Battalion.

Just after midnight on 5/6 June 1944 the 13th Battalion dropped from Dakota and Albermarle aircraft on DZ N, North of Ranville near Caen, in advance of the Normandy landings.

Sergeant Collier was killed later in the month while the Battalion was fighting at Le Mesnil.

The Battalion War Diary suggests that James Muir may have been the Platoon Sergeant for No 7 Platoon which attacked an enemy self-propelled gun near to Battalion positions at Le Mesnil. The Platoon became pinned down before reaching the objective and withdrew. The War Diary recorded that Major R Collins and 14 Other Ranks (ORs) were wounded with 2 ORs missing.

Sgt Muir died on 19 June 1944, aged 29 years, and is now buried at Ranville War Cemetery.

Cemetery photograph reproduced by kind permission of CWGC.