Staff Sergeant Jim Hooper

In the spring of 1939, Jim Hooper was employed as a shipping clerk working in the Blue Star Line offices at St Mary Axe in London. The expansion of the Territorial Army before the inevitable outbreak of war with Germany attracted Jim and many of his friends into the ranks. A keen motorcyclist, he indulged his passion for riding and joined the Royal Signals as a Dispatch Rider (Don-R).

Jim was mobilised in August 1939, and posted to the newly raised 12 Division in September, at their headquarters in Sevenoaks, Kent. From here, Jim was sent to 2nd London Infantry Brigade, based near Folkestone on coastal defence duties as a Dispatch Rider. By December 1939 the brigade had good wireless links and ‘Don-Rs’ were largely redundant. 

Jim and two fellow Don-Rs were now working for the War Office providing a back up service to ensure the passage of information in the event of tele-printer services being disrupted by bombing.  Jim was later involved in the carriage of red dispatch boxes between government ministers, the Prime Minister and Buckingham Palace – a duty requiring 2 riders, wearing white arm bands (ignoring speed restrictions), carrying weapons to protect the secret information they carried.

After a number of close shaves running messages through air raids culminating in a spectacular crash into a bomb crater Jim decided to find ‘something a little less dangerous.’ He volunteered for service in the Glider Pilot Regiment and reported for initial training at Fargo Camp, Tilshead in Summer 1942.  Surviving the rigorous selection process that was GPR basic training, Jim and fifty other students of 9 Course arrived at 29 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) at Clyffe Pypard. Jim was successful in his initial flying training and left the EFTS in February 1943 along with ten other pilots for the Glider Training School at RAF Stoke Orchard under the command of Captain John Neale.

In the Summer of 1943, Jim and his mates were introduced to the Hotspur Glider (amongst whom were Arthur Shackleton, Roy Howard, Reggie Johnston and Jim Eardley). At the end of October 1943, following the ‘Wings’ ceremony and succesful conversion onto the Horsa Glider, Jim was posted to 3 Squadron GPR at RAF Stoney Cross under command of Maj Ian Toler. In March 1944 the Squadron was re-designated B Squadron and relocated to RAF Brize Norton.

The squadron was supported by 296 and 297 Squadrons RAF who both operated the Armstrong Whitworth Albermarle in the glider tug role. Jim, now a Staff Sergeant first pilot in 20 Flight was paired with Sergeant Peter Johnson.  They were then paired with an RAF tug crew commanded by Sergeant Ted Flavell from 297 Squadron.  Much to their frustration Normandy passed 20 Flight by, they were held in reserve as part of 1st Airborne Division. The summer and autumn of 1944 was an extremely frustrating period for Jim and the whole of 1st Airborne Division. After a series of Airborne Operations were cancelled at the last moment the seventeenth operation – Operation Market Garden, was on!

Jim was briefed to fly 13 Platoon of 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire to Arnhem. Due to the short range of the Albermarle, B Squadron moved south to RAF Manston.  This straightforward move did not go well for Jim, Peter Johnson and the aptly numbered 13 Platoon.

‘The troops of 13 Platoon embarked on what was expected to be a routine flight. Minutes later they were picking themselves out of the broken remains of a crashed glider at the end of a Brize runway. The Albermarle’s engines had failed on take off after the Horsa and its load had achieved flying speed'(1)

The next day Jim, Peter and 13 Platoon set off again down the Brize runway.  This time they took off without incident and climbed over Oxfordshire to 2,000ft. At that point the tow rope snapped and Jim was forced to make another emergency landing.

‘A safe landing touchdown in a hastily selected field was accomplished but although the yoke (tow rope) had fallen away unbeknown to the pilots it had fouled the nose wheel whilst landing was being attempted. The trailing rope caught up in the trees on approach resulting in the glider stopping abruptly immediately on touchdown. The Horsa started to cart wheel until checked but broke it’s back aft of the main planes in so doing.’ (2)

Injuries on board were miraculously light and everybody walked away from the wreckage. The South Staffs credited Jim with saving their lives on both occasions but Battalion HQ elected to move 13 Platoon by road. Jim and his Sergeant Johnson flew to Manston in an Albermarle.  On arrival Jim was told he would not be flying on the upcoming op. A couple of days later Jim was summoned by Major Ian Toler, when he arrived at the Squadron office he was surprised and pleased to hear that he and Peter Johnson had been reinstated for the mission. Also present was Major Cain the Company Commander of 13 Platoon, he had conveyed a request from the platoon that Jim fly them to Arnhem.

On Sunday 17 September 1944 Jim, Peter and 13 Platoon took off without incident from RAF Manston, towed by Sergeant Ted Flavell.  Horsa glider - Tail Number RN 646 joined the stream of gliders crossing the Suffolk coast then heading across the North Sea to occupied Holland. The flight went exactly as planned and Jim delivered 13 Platoon (Chalk Number 299) onto LZ ‘S’ near Wolfheze. After landing Jim and Peter followed their South Staffs to the B Company RV point and then occupied a two storey building close to the Wolfheze railway crossing. On Monday 18 September B Company were ordered into Arnhem to breakthrough to 2nd Parachute Battalion at the bridge. Jim went along with his Platoon; the remainder of 20 Flight GPR were also in the column.

Jim was involved in the fighting in Oosterbeek that forced the column off Utrechtsweg down onto the lower river road. Jim was a witness to the O Group that took place that night prior to a coordinated attack by the South Staffs and 1st Parachute Battalion. In the early hours of the next morning Jim went into action with the South Staffs as they attacked along Utrechtsweg past the St Elisabeth Hospital toward the Municipal Museum – here they were halted by determined German resistance. The South Staffs and 1st Parachute Battalion positions were subjected to heavy fire from 20mm Flak guns, heavy Machine Guns and mortars. Casualties were heavy and both attacks were stalled well short of the bridge. The survivors of the attack were forced into houses on the north side of Utrechtsweg opposite the museum.  There was little respite, 13 Platoon was forced out of the burning building and into hastily dug trenches in the museum grounds. During the fighting Peter Johnson was separated from Jim and was subsequently posted as ‘Missing in Action’. Eventually a large German counter-attack spearheaded by self propelled guns and other armour overran the South Staffs positions, Jim and many others were taken prisoner.

After being searched by their SS captors for weapons and useful intelligence material Jim and his comrades were marched away from the battle to a holding compound on the northern fringe of Arnhem. They were then moved by truck to a concrete warehouse in Zutphen, Jim remembers being guarded by heavily armed Germans for a couple of days before being bundled onto cattle trucks at the railway station.  The Germans removed the POWs boots to discourage escape. After a four or five day train journey through the Ruhr valley the train arrived at Limburg a town north of Frankfurt-am-Main. Here the prisoners scrambled to recover footwear from the heaps that the guards shovelled off the train. Glider Pilots and downed RAF aircrew were then segregated and moved to the Luftwaffe interrogation centre at Oberusel.  After two days of solitary confinement, Jim was taken for interrogation by an English speaking German civilian who had worked as a waiter in England.  He was then moved via Dulag-Luft at Wetzlar in the Taunus Mountains to Stalag Luft VII at Bankau in Oder Silesia (now Poland). 

In January 1945, the Germans decided to move the prisoners from Luft VII west ahead of the advancing Soviet Army. With only an hour’s notice the prisoners were told to gather their few belongings and begin the march west, the weather was Siberian in nature. Wounded and sick were also forced to march and there were no medical supplies. In heavy snow and bitterly cold winds Jim and his fellow POWs witnessed the once mighty German Wehrmacht in full retreat, among them ‘turned’ Cossacks in German uniform all mixed in with columns of terrified refugees. In mid-February after a torturous march and a three-day train journey the prisoners arrived at Stalag IIIA near Lukenwalde, roughly thirty miles south-east of Berlin.  Many of the marchers had frost bite and malnutrition, Jim had protected his hands from the elements by wearing a pair of discarded boxing gloves he had found by the roadside.

Conditions at the new camp were ‘appalling’ most of the beds had been used to fuel fires and sanitation was rudimentary at best.  The POWs had a clandestine wireless that kept them aware of the progress of the war; they knew that the Soviets were closing in from the East.  When they saw the German guards leaving in a hurry one morning Jim and a group of Glider Pilots decided to make a break for it.  Along with Paddy Girvin and Dicky Dale, Jim Hooper escaped and made contact with Soviet troops.  After back slapping and drunken toasts the three Staff Sergeants set off West to try and make it back to British or American lines. Riding stolen German bicycles provided by their Russian friends, living off the land the trio headed for the River Elbe. Skirting their way around German strong points and wherever possible avoiding Soviet troops, the Glider Pilots eventually reached the river crossing at Torgau.  After a few days of hanging around and verification of their identity by Soviet Field Security they were allowed to cross the Elbe. There followed another lengthy bicycle journey to an ex-Luftwaffe Airfield where the US Army had established a reception camp for Allied POWs.

The Americans had a fleet of C47 Dakota aircraft on the airfield and within days Jim and his comrades were flying in an aerial armada that was taking British and Belgian POWs to Brussels and American and French prisoners to Paris. Jim and his two fellow pilots were then flown by Lancaster to Dunsfold in Surrey.  After repatriation leave Jim went to the POW rehabilitation centre at Sedgefield in County Durham. Thanks to the intervention of Major Ian Toler, the B Squadron commander the three pilots rejoined the squadron at RAF Matching Green in Essex.  He returned to flying Horsas at Matching Green and from Weathersfield but the war was soon over.

After the war, Jim returned to the Royal Signals for a short period before demob in 1946.  He then worked for the Foreign Office in Frankfurt where he met his wife Ann.  Jim and Ann returned to UK in 1951 and Jim went to work for the Ministry of Supply, after four years he moved to Aldermaston where he was involved in cipher and secure communication transmission.  This was during the British Atomic weapons programme, unbeknown to Jim at the time, the Squadron Commander of the V Bombers responsible for dropping the British bombs was his Arnhem tug pilot Ted Flavell.After a successful career culminating with an appointment as the Special Assistant to the President of the European Nuclear Society Jim retired in 1985.

Jim sadly passed away February 2021

Jim remained an active member of the Glider Pilot Regimental Association today. A more detailed account of his Arnhem experiences can be found in Glider Pilots At Arnhem (details below).

References

(1)Mike Peters & Luuk Buist, Glider Pilots at Arnhem by Mike Peters & Luuk Buist (2009)Pen and Sword Ltd.

(2)By permission of The Eagle magazine.