Private Walter Thornton Woolhouse was born in Rotherham, but moved to live with his grandparents in Sunderland after his mother passed away whilst he was still a baby.
He transferred to the Parachute Regiment after initial service with the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Walter earned his wings in January 1944 and joined the 13th (Lancashire) Battalion - part of 5th Parachute Brigade of 6th Airborne Division and took part in the Normandy invasion of Operation Overlord as part of the Mortar platoon.
A short account follows below of the events which led to his death:
During the campaign, General Gale ordered the Division to make straight for Pont Audemer on the 26 August 1944. They were pursuing the Germans during the ‘Advance for the Seine’ and wanted to capture the bridge over the Risle intact. After a gruelling 12km road walk/run in three hours, they arrived. They were too late however, as the bridge had been blown by the retreating Germans just 20 minutes earlier.
Whilst a recce of the town was conducted the MMG and Mortar platoons were not needed. They dispersed off the road outside Pont Audemer, as they were under observation from the high ground on the eastern bank. They rested in an orchard next to a small stream and many of the soldiers decided to wash and freshen up in the running water. As they washed they heard the scream of incoming shells and took cover behind the small bank of the stream. The four shells landed harmlessly in the orchard and the debris passed over their heads.
Washing complete, they re-entered the orchard, to calls of “Look at that dozy bugger” and “Wakey, wakey” and found one member of the Mortar platoon fast asleep against a tree. An NCO approached the sleeping man, “He’s not asleep, he’s dead!”. There was not a mark on his body as the concussion of the four shell blasts killed him whilst he slept after the exhausting march. A few hours later the Battalion was ordered off the frontline into a rest area and never fought again during the Normandy campaign.
The man was Private Walter Thornton Woolhouse - the last man from 13th Battalion to lose his life in Normandy.
He died on 28 August 1944, aged 22 years old. He is now buried at St Desir War Cemetery, Normandy.
With thanks to “Dixie” Dean.
Army Roll of Honour: World War II supplied by Naval and Military Press Ltd
- Name
- Walter T Woolhouse
- Rank
- Private
- Service Number
- 14658854
- Regiment
- Parachute Regt (The South Lancashire Regt (Prince of Wales' Volunteers))
- Date of Death
- 26/8/44
- Theatre of War
- Western Europe Campaign, 1944/45
