Driver Harold Woodward

Harold Woodward was the son of Frederick and Martha Woodward and the husband of Hilda Woodward, of West Bank, Widnes. He enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps, and volunteered for Airborne forces.

Driver Woodward successfully completed Air Despatcher training and was posted to 799 Air Despatch Company, Royal Army Service Corps, and took part in Operation Market Garden (Arnhem).

Dvr Woodward was killed in action on 21 September 1944, aged 30, when RAF 437 Squadron Dakota KG-387, base Blakehill Farm, was shot down by German fighters and crashed near the ‘Sonniushoeve’ farm at Son, near Eindhoven, on the 101st US Airborne Division Landing Zone. Only three men survived and the Americans buried five casualties in the temporary US Military Cemetery at Son. At the time only Dvrs Woodward and Yeo could be identified. All the casualties were re-interred in the British War Cemetery at Bergen op Zoom on 18 November 1946. Cpl Hall was identified in 1948 and the remaining RAF crew were identified in 1996. (Roll of Honour, 5th Revised Edition, 2011).

If you are part of Dvr Woodward’s family and would like to complete this biography, you can apply to the Curator to do so. To do this you will need to become a member of ParaData and select the 'friend or family member' option on the registration form.

If you would like to find out more about becoming a member please visit our registration page.

Members of ParaData can submit their material by clicking on the 'Add content to this article' button on the right.