Private Charles R Pye

Charles Richard Pye, son of Charles and Amelia Pye; husband of Nancy Pye, of Bisley, Gloucestershire, he enlisted in The Royal Artillery and then volunteered for airborne forces.

Private Pye successfully completed his parachute training at RAF Ringway on course 94/95 from 6 to 20 December 1943, his course report stated “Alert and confident, an excellent parachutist”, he was posted to HQ Company, 11th Battalion Parachute Regiment, and took part in Operation Market Garden (Arnhem).

“According to MoD records Pte Pye was initially reported as having been killed whilst a POW on 25 September 1944. This was amended later to having been last seen alive by an unnamed British officer in an unspecified Stalag on 31 December. However, as Pte Pye was never listed as a prisoner this is highly unlikely” (Battle of Arnhem Roll of Honour, 5th revised edition 2011, pg. 131).

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his date of death as 31 December 1944, aged 26, and he is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial to the missing.