My Army/Para career

[Pegasus]

I was born in London in 1929 in the East end, my father joined the Terrotorial army in 1937, when war broke out my dad was away on a training exercise and obviously got caught up in the mayhem. He was a searchlight operator. My eldest brother was in the Navy and served for a short time on HMS Rodney but eventually went onto LCT's in the Far East Theatre. My other brother was in the Kings own Yorkshire Light Infantry and later served in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry or visa versa, I cant remember really. He won the Military Medal during the Normandy Landings. I used to pester my two brothers constantly but they would never tell me about their experiences, as was the way then. In 1949 I joined the Army and in those days you were posted to a general service Regiment for initial training of 5 weeks, during that time I volunteered for the Parachute Regiment as it came with extra pay of 28 Shillings a week. Standard pay for a British soldier was only 28 shillings so effectively I had doubled my wage by joining the Paras.
After my initial training I was sent to the Parachute depot in Aldershot where I commenced my 9 or 12 ? weeks basic para training and then onto 3 weeks jump traing at Upper Haven. My introduction to the Para training was scary to say the least, we were all taken into the Gym where the commanding Officer gave his address which he started by saying "Im gonna break your Fu***ng hearts, the way he said it made it sound and feel much worse than I could describe it here. That night at least 20 of the 105 recruits went AWOL. By the end of my para training there was only 56 recruits left. When I finished my training I was given my Para wings which was a very proud day, we all just could not take our eyes off them on our shoulders. I was then posted back to Aldershot for another 9 weeks to train with the regular Parachute Regiment. These paras were what I considered to be real soldiers as they had all seen combat and were covered in medals from head to toe. In 1950 I was involved a military style tattoo for Montgomery (MONTY) and this was where I encoutered BULLSHIT!, We had to do things such as french polish our rifle butts and have box pleats put in our battle dress tunics, our boots were never polished highly enough. I had not encountered this kind of thing before and frankly I didnt like it, I was a para and my job was to jump from aircraft into battle areas not look like a raving queen :o

Eventually I was posted to the 3rd Battllion the Parachute Regiment who were at that time at a place called Itzheo which was just outside Hamburg. 3 para were then part of the 16th Independant Parachute Brigade. 3 Para were originally the 7th Parachute light infantry and had just come back from the troubles in Palestine.

Anyway guys im just going to recharge my memory banks, im getting old and dont like to think too hard for too long, if you know what i mean.

see you all later with a little more info about my jumps and the equipment we used such as the infamous leg bag and the problems that caused me. :mad:

[Bombardier]

I used to pester my two brothers constantly but they would never tell me about their experiences, as was the way then

Nothings changed much then Dad :lol:

[HighlandSniper58]

Great to hear your story Pegasus.

Thought you'd be interested to know that Itzheo is now a German Army airborne base.

[Doc 2/47]

Sure hope you recharge quick.Really interested in hearing the rest.Thank you for your service!

[Bill Farnie]

Like Oliver Twist said;

"Please, sir, I want some more"

Bill

[Frisco-Kid]

Pegasus

Thanks for the introduction story. Your story is the same, but different, as some of us Yanks. First, our Basic Combat Training is 8wks., compared to your 5wks. back then. Is British Army Basic Training still 5wks.? 9 or 12wks. basic para training AND THEN onto 3wks. of jump training! JAYSUS! Our whole Jump School was 3wks., from start to finish. Ground Week, Tower Week, Jump Week.....done deal. I told Andy that you paratroopers of the '50s were some tough dudes. I think Jump School of the '40s and '50s here was 6 or 8wks.. Help me out, Steve. Like with you, it payed extra; $55/mo.. When I went in [10JAN66] base pay was about $65/mo.... you cleared about $35.

With us, we had AIT [Advanced Individual Training] after basic. This was the school that taught you whatever job you were going to have while in the Army [infantry, engineer, medic, etc.]. The length of the school varied by job. I went to Advanced Infantry Training at Ft. Gordon, GA. It was 8wks.. 99% of us had signed up to go Airborne. In about the 6th week we all had to pass the Airborne PT test to continue on to Jump school. Most of us made it, but some didn't. Those of us that did were taken by bus to Ft. Benning, GA. 99% of ALL American paratroopers are trained here. By the end of the 3wks. I think our dropout rate was about 30%.

Like you, I often didn't like all the "Spit-And-Polish" BS of a stateside Airborne unit. I went to Vietnam and the 101st Abn. Div. right out of Jump School, so I wasn't exposed to alot of that until I returned from Nam. When I was assigned to the 82nd Abn. Div. at Ft. Bragg, NC, I, and others had trouble adapting to this. It was hard coming from a line unit in a combat zone to a "Showcase" unit in the States. As a paratrooper, I ALWAYS took pride in my appearance but, like you said, it was often never enough if they wanted to be chicken sh*t about it. I had a friend that volunteered to return to Nam, he hated it so bad. If he had waited, he would of gone back anyway with the rest of us in FEB68 :lol: .

I'm glad you came aboard here, Pegasus. Paratroopers from all nations are Brothers and we have a special bond with, and respect for, each other. I'm looking forward to more of your stories as you get the urge to bring them to us.

PS: I told Bombardier not to be making remarks about you being to old to do PLFs [Parachute Landing Falls] off of the bar in The Bunker. Most of us old paratroopers are still pretty spry and were dangerous men back in The Day rbo; o- box; uzi, camo;

[82Rigger]

Just a line or two to help out Frisco...

During WW2, US Army jump school was 12 weeks long and much much tougher than today. That training then included a lot of what is now infantry training, i.e. forced marches with full pack. Also, back then, each trooper packed his own 'chute, so that also had to be taught.

Over the years jump school was reduced to five weeks (early fifties), four weeks (1959) and is now three weeks long.

In WW2 a buck private made US $21.00 a month, so that $50 a month jump pay was quite an incentive.

One interesting sidelight....glider troops in WW2 did NOT get jump pay. They got only their standard base pay.

A couple of months ago I was having coffee in the local coffee shoppe when a couple of Canadian paras came in in uniform and sat down. They were here on temporary duty at nearby Eglin Air Force Base for some kind of training.
I went over and introduced myself and showed them my Rigger card which I still carry in my wallet. They invited me to sit with them and within a few minutes we were carrying on like old friends.
Like Frisco said, paratroopers, no matter what nation share a special bond.
We are, indeed, a band of brothers.

[Frisco-Kid]

Thanks, Steve. I knew if anyone on here knew this stuff, it would be you. I knew the WWII training included the infantry training [from BAND OF BROTHERS] and in the '50s they had to pack their own 'chutes [that would be a class that you definately wanted to stay awake in], I just didn't know exactly how long the schools were. I guess if you count our time at Ft. Gordon, it works out to about the same.

Jaysus! I didn't know those guys in the gliders didn't get extra pay. I always thought they were jump qualified and being in a glider was the [bad] luck of the draw. I'da picked a jump over those death traps any day. I was always proud to wear their patch on my c*nt cap. I'm glad I got out before I had to wear a beret.

As always, I appreciate the history lesson Bro.

[82Rigger]

Frisco, same same re gliders, brother! I'd take a 'chute even under minimal jump conditions over a glider ANY day.

Those things went ass over tits too often. And I don't relish the idea of being inside a tumbling glider with a field piece or something rattling around in there. It's not indigenous to one's health.

The glider troopers WERE jump qualified. But it was the same as it was for you and I...no jumpee... no jump pay. Later in the war the jump wings that paratroopers wore was modified with a letter "G" in the middle for the glider troopers.


Glider story...


This took place during the allied operation of March 23-24, 1945 to secure the footholds across the Rhine river.
Pvt Wallace Thompson, a medic in the 17th Airborne, was assigned a jeep and rode in it behind the pilots of a Waco glider. He was very unhappy about this. All through the flight he kept telling the pilots that he would much prefer to jump into combat. They ignored his complaints. As they crossed the Rhine, the pilots told Thompson to start his jeep engine so that as soon as they landed they could release the nose latches and he could drive out.

Over the LZ, just a few meters above the ground, an 88 shell burst just behind Thompson's jeep. The concussion broke the latches of the nose section, which flipped up and locked, throwing the pilots out. The blast cut the ropes that held the jeep, which leaped out ahead of the glider, engine running, with Thompson gripping the steering wheel with all his might.
He made a perfect four-wheel landing, beating the glider to the ground, thus becoming the first paratrooper in history to complete a solo flight in a jeep.

[Drone_pilot]

the first paratrooper in history to complete a solo flight in a jeep

The Girlfriend thinks i,ve gone mad as i was laughing long and loud at this. lolb; lolb; lolb; lolb; lolb;

[Frisco-Kid]

Steve

I never heard of the GLIDER jump wings with the G on them. I bet their a pretty collectable military memorabilia item. I don't collect such stuff, but I'm going to keep my eye out from now on. We go to antique shows sometimes.

Those guys got ripped off on the jump pay. Even though we didn't jump much in Nam [most guys did their whole tour without making a jump], we still got the jump pay as long as you were with an Airborne unit; 101st, 173rd, 82nd, or 5th SF. The glider guys should of gotten another 10 bucks over the jumpers, as far as I'm concerned.

[82Rigger]

Frisco,

Sixty bucks a month extra to go into combat in a glider? I'd have to think about that for a while! :roll:

I made a mistake in the above info on the glider badge. The badge with the "G" on it was the glider PILOT badge. The glider INFANTRY badge was the standard jump wings with a glider super-imposed over the parachute. I've just finished posting pics of both badges. They're under INSIGNIA->ARMY.

[Frisco-Kid]

Hey, 60 bucks would be better than what they WERE paying them: ZIP, ZERO, NADA. No, they wouldn't have had enough money to entice me into one of those things.

I'll check out the pictures.

[Frisco-Kid]

Very cool badge, Steve. I'm going to keep an eye out for one.

When James gets back from Europe, he and I are going to go soaring in gliders. My wife bought me a gift certificate for a ride as a Christmas present [last year it was a bi-plane ride]. I've been waiting for the best weather. I asked James if he wanted to go earn his glider patch with me :mrgreen: . We decided to wait until after his Europe trip. We'll take pictures.