B Coy, 10th Para Bn, June 1944.

My father Charles Arscott is in the third row from the top, fourth in from the right (with arms folded. In 1944 he would have been just 22 years old. He parachuted in to Holland during operation market garden and recalled being shot at as he approached the ground. I believe he was one of only 4 or 5 survivors during this drop. wih a few other paras and his Colonel (Smythe) he recalled being surrounded in a cottage. He had been grazed by a bullet in the stomach and was being cared for by the lady of the house and her young son who he believed became a well known surgeon after the war. He recalled that Colonel Smythe made sure that he and the other young paras were comfortable prior to leaving the cottage and soon afterwards being shot and killed. My father was then captured and taken prisoner by the Germans. He managed to escape twice but each time was captured after being on the run for approx 2 weeks. After the war he served in Palestine and then as a civilian in the TA. He lived until 2002 when he died aged 80.