Sergeant William A Stothart

William Alfred Stothart was born in South Shields and initially enlisted into the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, prior to volunteering for airborne forces during World War II.

He attended RAF Ringway for parachute course 99, which ran from 19 January to 3 February 1944. Upon completion he was posted to the Airborne Forces Holding Unit and later transferred to the 2nd Parachute Battalion, then stationed in Lincolnshire. He was assigned to B-Company, which was billeted in Colsterworth.

On Sunday 17 September 1944, he parachuted onto Drop Zone ‘X’ near Heelsum in Holland as part of ‘Operation Market-Garden’. He fought at Arnhem Bridge for four days until he was taken prisoner and sent to a POW Camp in Germany, which was liberated by Allied Forces in April 1945.

His son, Anthony, recounted: “He told us that he was used as a runner of messages and on one occasion chased by some Germans through some gardens and hid behind some large bushes whilst they searched for him. He also told us that as prisoners they were held in an old school where they took the money they had and hid it in the cracks in the walls, also when on the march through Germany to the POW camps they had to wear placards saying "The pride of the British Army the butchers of Arnhem”.

He returned to England on 18 April 1945 and, after documentation procedures were complete, was sent on leave until 7 June 1945. It was about this time that the War Office Casualty Department contacted him to see if he had any news of men still listed as Missing In Action from the battle at Arnhem Bridge. He gave details of two men, Sgt Major Scott and Sgt Thompson, both from B-Company.

He was discharged from Regular Army Service on the 19 July 1945 and returned to South Shields.

However, William re-enlisted into the Army in November 1946, this time serving with the Royal Army Service, until May 1952. While serving in the Army he got married in 1947, in Dover Kent, and later had eight children.

William died on the 27 December 1979 at Chatham in Kent.