6th Airborne Division

Lt-Col. P.J. Luard

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Lieutenant-Colonel P.J. Luard
13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion

The battalion had been on the move and in action for forty-eight hours, almost without let-up, and was very tired. So, we stayed where we were. I had a company commanders meeting and in the middle of it, I was so tired that I went to sleep as I was actually talking. They left me sleeping, and left word that I was not to be disturbed. I woke up two hours later and the rest of the meeting was resumed, with my apologies.

(Quoted from Airborne Assault Museum) https://paradata.org.uk/content/4642689-lieutenant-colonel-peter-luard

Born on 6 June 1911 Warblington, Hampshire, Peter John Luard was the son of a British Navy admiral and a commissioned officer in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire light infantry since 1931. He served in Burma during the early 1930s and qualified as a staff officer in 1941. Following appointments with the 6th Battalion, Ox and Bucks and to 31st Infantry Brigade, Luard volunteered to be a paratrooper in early 1942.

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Lt-Col. A.P. Johnson

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Lieutenant-Colonel Johnny Johnson
12th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion

Everything opened up. There was airbursts and there was machine gun fire coming right across, tracer bullets coming at us, mortars being dropped and shells … There were a few of us around there. There was the C.O., the second-in-command, the adjutant, I think there must have been about half a dozen. And there was such a bang against this wall that I wondered what it was. I didn’t know evidently it was a shell that had dropped amongst us … it killed the C.O.

(Ronald Dixon, IWM interview, 3 Sep 1999)

Born on 28 July 1911 in Maidenhead, Berkshire, Alexander Percival Johnson was commissioned into the Suffolk Regiment in 1931. He had previously been educated in Switzerland before graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Just as he completed staff college in 1941, the British Army had started to form the new airborne forces. As an adventuring sportsman with an interest in skinning and mountain climbing, Johnson volunteered as a paratrooper.

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Lt-Col. R.J.H. Carson

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Lieutenant-Colonel Hank Carson
1st Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles

His tactical ability has always been sound, his planning painstaking and thorough. His battalion has always maintained a high morale and in the most difficult conditions their cheerfulness has been noticeable and outstanding. This is to a very large extent due to the personality and example set by their commanding officer.

(O.B.E. citation, 29 Apr 1952)

Born on 18 July 1909 in Mussoorie, British India, Robert John Heyworth Carson was educated at Charterhouse and RMC Sandhurst. After taking a commission the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1929, he served around the world including in Northern Ireland, Palestine, Egypt and Hong Kong. Carson briefly commanded the 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles, a unit formed in 1940 for underaged soldiers too young for conscription. In February 1943, he succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel R.J.R. Campbell in command of the 1st Battalion, RUR.

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Lt-Col. G.R. Stevens

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Lieutenant-Colonel Dick Stevens
12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment

And I am doubly certain that we can never achieve either leadership or friendship in India if we depend upon the crumbling façade of caste which has protected Englishmen in India in the past. We must either make India a willing associate or else get out … we are prepared to relinquish our status as superior beings and are willing to become partners and associates in the business of living in India.

(Col. G.R. Stevens to East India Association, 13 Dec 1944)

Born on 4 October 1908 in Boyle, County Roscommon, George Richard Stevens was educated at Cheltenham and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He took a commission with Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) in 1928, and served tours of duty with the 1st Battalion in India during the 1930s. He commanded a company in the Western Desert campaign and then in 1942 went to the Staff College, Camberley as an instructor. Following a GSO 1 appointment to the airborne forces, in 1943, he became second-in-command of 12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment.

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Lt-Col. M.W. Roberts

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Lieutenant-Colonel M.W. Roberts
2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

In the actual operation Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts showed outstanding gallantry. After a hazardous landing, he showed great determination in setting up and maintaining Divisional Headquarters in the face of the enemy. His services on that day and in the long advance which followed were carried out without thought for his personal safety and were of the very greatest value to me and the division.

(D.S.O. citation, 24 Jan 1946)

Born in Devonport on 15 December 1907, Michael Wace Roberts was educated at Marlborough College and was commissioned in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1927. After overseas postings in India and Burma during the 1930s, he attended staff college and during the Second World War served with the Home Guard. In December 1943, he was appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, which two years earlier had converted to glider infantry.

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Lt-Col. R.G. Pine-Coffin

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Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Pine-Coffin
3rd Parachute Battalion,
7th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion

Lieutenant-Colonel Pine Coffin, he was—and I’m not saying this because I’m being taped—he was the finest officer that any man can wish for … He was for the men. He wasn’t one of those ‘oh because I’m an officer, I’m above you’ … He never degraded you.

(Walter Tanner, IWM interview, 31 Jul 1990)

Born on 2 December 1908 in Portledge Manor, Bideford, Devon, Richard Geoffrey Pine-Coffin graduated from Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was commissioned into the Devonshire Regiment in 1928 and mobilized with the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. He served in the Battle of France and after Dunkirk joined the 11th Devons as a major.  His compound family name led soldiers to dub him “Wooden Box” as the dead were typically buried in simple coffins made of pinewood.

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Lt-Col. T. Otway

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Lieutenant-Colonel Terence Otway
9th Parachute Battalion

The more I think about it the more I wonder how in the devil we did it … It was this fantastic training that saved us. I can’t believe we could have pulled it off otherwise … It was an appalling shambles and only Good knew what lay in store for us. I asked myself, do I pack up or do I go on? It had been stressed to me how vital it was to see the thing through. So I really had no option but to have a go.

(Quoted in Brimingham Post, 6 Jun 1969, 24)

Born on 15 June 1914 in Cairo, Egypt, Terence Brandram Hastings Otway was educated at Royal Military College, Sandhurst and took a commission with 2nd Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles in 1934. He served overseas in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and on the North West frontier in India. Following staff college and War Office duties in London, he transferred to the airborne forces in August 1943 and later became second-in-command of the 9th Parachute Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel Martin Lindsay. Just months before D-Day, Otway had taken commander under inscrutable circumstances.

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Lt-Col. A.S. Pearson

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Lieutenant-Colonel Jock Pearson
1st Parachute Battalion
8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion

I do not believe that there is any man, who, in his heart of hearts, would not rather be called ‘brave’ than any other virtue attributed to him. This elemental and reasoning attitude is a good one. Because courage is not merely a virtue but is THE virtue. Without courage, there are no other virtues. Faith, hope and charity, and all the rest, don’t become virtues unless you have the courage to exercise them.

(Pearson lecture quoted in Julian James, A Fierce Quality, 118)

Born on 1 June 1915 in Glasgow, Scotland, Alastair Stevenson “Jock” Pearson was educated at Kelvinside Academy and worked as a baker during the Great Depression before joining the Territorial Army. He rose to become one of the youngest battalion commanders in the British Army. “Gentlemen, do what you are told and stay alive,” he would stress to his officers. “Remember, there will be no bloody medals in this battalion.” Yet with four D.S.O.’s and one Military Cross, Pearson ended the war as one of the most highly decorated officers.

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