Gunner Frank Pritchard

Frank Pritchard was born in Wrexham, Denbighshire and enlisted into the Royal Regiment of Artillery in March 1943.

By 1944 he was serving in the 64th Light Battery, RA, in Italy, when it was converted to the Airborne role, to support the 2nd (Independent) Parachute Brigade Group.

On the 15 August 1944 he took off in a an American glider, a Waco, piloted by Americans, to take part in Operation ‘Dragoon’. On board with him was Bdr. Robert Tudhope. On the flight from Italy to Southern France the glider broke up and crashed into the Mediterranean. No survivors were found.

There is a first-hand account of this incident in ‘Silent Wings’, by Gerard M. Devlin, pages 220 – 221:

‘From where he sat at the controls of his C-47 airplane at the rear of the Waco serial, Lieutenant Gene Roberts had a perfect view of the gliders skimming along in pairs behind their tugs. Everything was proceeding so smoothly that Roberts was beginning to get sleepy, but suddenly he witnessed a horrifying event that he would remember for the rest of his life. The right wing suddenly fell off the glider in front of him, and in a flash, the stricken Waco heaved violently over on its side and broke loose from its tow-line. The glider disintegrated as it fell, spilling its passengers into the sea. At that great height there was no hope that anyone could survive the fall. The remainder of the serial
continued on its way to France.’

He has no known grave and is Commemorated on the BAYEUX MEMORIAL, Panel 11, Column 2.

The son of Wilfred Pritchard, and of Margaret Emily Pritchard, of Wrexham, Denbighshire, he was 19 years old when he died.

Note: On the official Casualty Reports he is still listed as 165th Field Regiment, RA.