Private Charles T Guscott

Charles Thomas Guscott was born on 14 June 1923 in Kent and enlisted at Maidstone. He was sent to the training Depot at Canterbury where he joined The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) in late 1942.

In 1943 he volunteered for airborne forces and was sent to Hardwick Hall for the selection course. Having passed this he was sent to RAF Ringway in August 1943 to attend parachute course 78. After completing the required eight parachute descents he was posted to the Holding Company at the Depot at Hardwick and then from there to the 12th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion stationed at Bulford.

Here he was assigned to No 1 Platoon, A Company, which was commanded by Lieutenant Philip Burkinshaw.

On the night of 5 June 1944 he took off in one of the two leading Stirling aircraft of his battalion from RAF Keevil, bound for DZ ‘N’ near Ranville in Normandy as part of ‘Operation Overlord’ – the start of the liberation of France.

‘Shortly before 11 pm we fell in by platoons and boarded lorries to take us to Keevil airfield. On our arrival there we found a scene of enormous activity and bustle and were directed to our aircraft, debussing alongside the Stirlings, their fuselages towering high above us. After last minute checks of arms and equipment, anointing of our faces and hands with camouflage cream mixed with soot, synchronization of watches by platoon commanders – important in the split second world in which we were to live or die – last minute words of reassurance or explanation for those who might be in any doubt or uncertainty, we boarded our aircraft.’ [1]

‘I jumped from a Stirling aircraft, which could hold twice as many men as the old Whitley, you also had more room and could stand up. I landed accurately on the drop zone and moved off to the RV.’ [2]

Having met up with his platoon at the RV [Rendezvous] he discovered that not all the men of 1 Platoon had made it. The Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Philip Burkinshaw and one of the Sergeants’ with 1 Section was there, but nearly half the platoon was missing.

At approximately 02.30 hours in the morning they moved off to the main objective, Le Bas de Ranville. By 4 am they were in their positions and digging-in. They held their positions throughout the day against sporadic infantry attacks supported by mortar and artillery fire. From the next day they settled into a routine in defense, which included patrolling.

‘Myself and a Private Thomas carried out a patrol on the night of the 7 or 8 June. We were alert for any sound or movement. A plane flew over and dropped a flare, our, theirs, it didn’t matter. We froze in position, everything was lit up like daylight. When it was dark again we carried on and then returned to our lines.’ [3]

As the days wore on, so did the increasing casualty list, usually from the incessant mortaring or seemingly random artillery barrages. It was during one of these on the 8 or the 9 June that Charles was wounded.

‘I was wounded in the right arm by a piece of shrapnel, which made it go all limp and useless. Two medics came and got me and took me back to the Aid Post, I’d told them I didn’t want to go, but they insisted. Back there it was assessed that the wound was serious and that I should be sent back to England. I didn’t want to go.’

It was as well that Charles was shipped back to England and then sent to a Hospital in Mansfield where an operation was carried out to repair what later turned out to be damage to the nerves in his arm.

Charles was deemed not fit enough to return to the 12th Parachute Battalion, or indeed to frontline soldiering and was later discharged from the Army.

Charles married in October 1943 and he celebrated his 91st birthday with a visit to the Airborne Assault Museum at Duxford on Saturday, 14 June 2014.

[1] ‘Alarms and Excursions’. By Philip L. Burkinshaw, OBE. 1991. Page 21.

[2], [3] & [4] Interview with Charles Guscott by Bob Hilton. Saturday, 14th June 2014. Charles’s 91st birthday!