Corporal James E Court

Corporal Jim Court, came from Bognor Regis, in Sussex. He enlisted into the Royal Engineers 23 June 1938, before joining The Royal Artillery 1 August 1940. He served as a Bombardier, and later volunteered for airborne forces on 29 July 1942. Before joining the army he was listed as being a carpenter.

After ground training at Hardwick Hall under army instructors he reported on Sunday 20 September 1942 to RAF Ringway for parachute training course 28. There were 280 men attending the course mainly from the 5th Parachute Battalion and reinforcements, including Jim Court, for No 1 Parachute Brigade. To qualify on this course, pupils did 4 descents after ground training: in 'slow pairs', 'slow fives', 'quick fives' and 'slow tens' with containers.

Jim was posted to the 1st Battalion, then fighting in North Africa, as a reinforcement.  Thereafter the battalion fought in Sicily and Italy, probing as far north as Foggia before being withdrawn back to the UK in preparation for D-Day and was based at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire.

A frustrating period ensued in 1944 with 16 cancelled operations. The battalion was finally deployed in Operation Market Garden as part of 1st Airborne Division's assault to seize the Rhine crossings at Arnhem. By this time Jim was 2i/c of a section in a Platoon ( No 5 or 6) in S Company, commanded by Major Ronnie Stark.

On Sunday 17 September 1944 the battalion jumped onto DZ-X as part of  the 1st Airborne Division's assault to capture the Rhine Crossings at Arnhem during Operation MARKET-GARDEN.

Jim Court was listed as missing on 25 September 1944. He was taken prisoner of war during the battle and later held in captivity in Germany. His POW number was 144104. The camp, Stalag VII/A was liberated at the end of the war in April 1945 and Jim was repatriated back to the UK. He left the army 22 May 1946, with a 'Exemplary' military conduct.