Staff Sergeant James B C Ellin

James “Badge” (a nickname given to ‘boy entrants’) Bernard Cecil Ellin, son of Benjamin and Mabel Ellin, of Ashby, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, enlisted as a boy entrant into The Royal Artillery and then volunteered for airborne forces.

Staff Sergeant Ellin successfully completed his Glider Pilot training and was posted to 9 Flight, G-Squadron, The Glider Pilot Regiment.

'On the second day of Operation Market, Chalk Number 994, piloted by Staff Sergeant James ‘Badge’ Ellin took off as part of the second lift, towed by a Stirling tug, flown by Pilot Officer Sellars. The tug experienced engine trouble and both tug and glider aborted their mission and landed at South Cerney Airfield. The load of one jeep plus two trailers, two heavy motorcycles and five troops belonging to 1st Parachute Brigade were rescheduled for the third lift on 19 September 1944.

Following a delay caused by bad weather Chalk number 994 took off for Landing Zone ‘L’ near Johanna Hoeve, east of Wolfheze on 19 September. Approaching the Belgian coast in a low tow position the Stirling/Horsa combination ran into thick mist and both glider pilots lost sight of the tug and were forced to cast off. Unfortunately one of the metal plugs, on the glider’s end of the tow rope, smashed through the side of the cockpit and hit ‘Badge’ on the head. The Horsa ditched in the North Sea west of Oostende and all but S/Sgt Ellin got into the dinghy. It isn’t known if S/Sgt Ellin was killed by the injuries he received or if he drowned whilst unconscious. The survivors were all made prisoners of war, whilst S/Sgt Ellin’s body drifted ashore near Zeebrugge on the 2nd October 1944.' (excerpt from ‘Tugs and Gliders to Arnhem’ Arie-Jan Van Hees).

S/Sgt ‘Badge’ Ellin died on 19 September 1944, aged 21. He is buried in the Blankenberge Town Cemetery at West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

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