Originally Posted by
Chugalug2
Thanks for the link g3. Interesting that Lord had planned on becoming ordained before the war. The Rev. Lord would have had a quite a ring to it of course.
The bitter irony of the story is that the drop landed in German hands as they had already overrun the DZ. The crew of course had no way of knowing that.
A very nicely written piece of journalism, and a worthy reminder of those unsung heroes of supply dropping, the despatchers!
There was another remarkable Lord at Arnhem: RSM J C Lord of 3 Para.
After acting as GOC 1ABN's bodyguard for a while following the virtual annihilation of 1st Para Bde, Lord remained in the perimeter and was captured by the Germans. He was sent, along with other members of the Division to a PoW camp near Fallingbostel. The camp was poorly run, overcrowded, morale was poor and contained many OR's who had been captured in 1940 ( remember that Officers and OR's were kept in separate camps). Lord immediately took command, demanded (and got) regular meetings with the Commandant who was calling him Mr Lord within a few weeks. He improved the organisation, introduced parades, PT and other 'activities' and it was known for him to pull up the guards for slovenly dress.
The end result being that when the 8th Hussars arrived to liberate the camp in 1945 they were greeted on arrival by Lord, presiding over an immaculate Guardroom at the camp entrance, complete with Orderly Sgt, Corporal of the Guard and full Guard, all correctly turned out in battledress, blanco'd webbing and bulled boots.