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2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment
2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment was formed in late September 1941 and served with 1st Parachute Brigade, 1st Airborne Division. They saw action in airborne operations in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Northern Europe.
28th Feb 1942 Return
 A Royal Navy MTB brings men of C Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion, into Portsmouth harbour on the morning after the Bruneval raid, 28th of February 1942. The CO of the assault force, Major J D Frost, is on the bridge, second from left.© IWM (H 17365)
28th Feb 1942 Return
29th Nov 1942 On the Move
29th Nov 1942 Report
30th Nov 1942 In Action
30th Nov 1942 Ground Gained
1st Dec 1942 Postponement
10th Mar 1943 Small Engagements
11th Mar 1943 Attack Made
13th Jul 1943 In Action
13th July 1943 On the March
17th Sep 1944 In Action 
19th Sep 1944 Strong Opposition
If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.
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Want to know more about 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment? There are:1331 items tagged 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War. |
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E White 2nd Btn 1 Coy. Parachute Regiment E White served with the 2nd Btn 1 Coy. Parachute Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Pte. Frederick Frances Hynes 2nd Parachute Battalion Air Corp  My late father, Frank Hynes, was in the 2nd Parachute Battalion of the Army Air Corps. He came from a long line of professional army men, enlisting in the 4/7 Royal Dragoon Guards as a boy aged 14.
He served in North Africa and Italy and was captured at Arnhem where he received a gunshot wound to his left forearm. He was transferred Prisoner of War to Fallingbostel, Stalag 11B on 25th September, 1944 and was released on 23 April 1945.
He went home to Brighton, UK and worked in the Special Constabulary, a bar manager at the British Legion Club at Shoreham-by-Sea and as a diamond polisher in Brighton and London.
He emigrated to Sydney, Australia at the age of 30 where he met and married my mother.
He worked as a Plant Controller at the Shell Oil Refinery for many years, then as a Clerk of the Court. He died in 1978 of a stroke at the age of 56.
I was 23 when he died, and had not talked to him in detail about his war service or time as a POW, I had no idea really until recently when I began to look at my family history and obtained his military records. I would love to know more if anyone has more information regarding his service.
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Capt. Jack Cameron Short 2nd Btn. Parachute Regiment (d.30th Sep 1943) When Jack Short was born on 8th October 1917 in Dartford, Kent, his father James, was 34 and his mother Isabella, was 33.
He married Stella Violet Hawkins on 23rd of April 1940 in Welling, Kent.
They had two children during their marriage.
He died as a young father on 30th of September 1943 in Sulmona, L'Aquila, Italy, at the age of 25, and was buried in Ortona, Chieti, Italy.
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Sgt. Raymond Henry Beagle Parachute Regiment British Army Sergeant Harry Beagle was in A Company, 2 Para, 1st Airborne Division. He was among the first on the bridge at Arnhem in September 1944. From there, he was taken prisoner to Stalag XIB, POW no. 118258.
He was repatriated at the end of the War.
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Cpl. Albert Joseph Holtom 2nd Btn. Parachute Regiment  Albert Holtom was attached to the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment at its inception. Initially in HQ Coy as a Cook, he earned his wings and maroon beret when he attended the Parachute Course No 15 at Ringway, before seeing active service in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, where he was awarded the Africa Star with First Army Clasp, and the Italy Star.
On returning from North Africa, he transferred to A Coy, serving under Lt Robin Vlasto of No. 1 Platoon. Accounts differ as to whether he fought at Arnhem, but he was awarded the France and Germany Star, and couldn't have earned it anywhere else. Unfortunately, this was not dispatched along with his other medals when they were claimed, posthumously, by his son in 2019. If he did fight at Arnhem, he was one of the 17 survivors from A Coy to be rescued during operation Berlin on 25th-26th of September 1944.
This was the story he took to his final resting place, peacefully, in 2003.
He was good friends with Cpl Robert Priesley and Cpl Tom Hastings, both of A Coy, and both taken PoW at Arnhem.
I would love to hear from family members of either of them.
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2nd Lt. Phillip Hanbury "Pete" Barry 2nd Btn. Parachute Regiment Phillip Barry, known as Pete, was born in Burnham on Sea in 1923, son of Dr James Barry who was the local GP for the Brent Knoll and East Brent area for many years. Philip followed in his father's footsteps and became our local GP when his father retired.
His Surgery was at the Hays in Brent Street, Brent Knoll where he lived with his wife Gillian and their four children.
He died peacefully but unexpectedly at his home in 2011 and was buried in St Michael's Church Brent Knoll.
Aged just 18 in 1941, Phillip became a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment.
The Paras were an elite Infantry Regiment formed to be dropped behind enemy lines and trained to survive with mostly just the equipment they landed with and without backup.
The 2nd Battalion saw service in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and in Holland during the failed operation Market Garden at Arnhem.
Lt Barry and his No 9 platoon of C company were tasked with taking a railway bridge over the river. It was during this failed attempt to take a vital railway bridge near Arnhem against overwhelming odds against a German Panzer group and an SS division, that Lt Barry was wounded when the Germans blew the bridge up, and most of the platoon were taken prisoner.
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Capt. Jack Cameron Short 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment (d.30th September 1943) My Grandfather, Jack Short, was among many been transported from P.G. 21 to a German POW camp. Whilst waiting to continue the journey to Germany, at the Sulmona Station, he and 2 other British soldiers made a run for it, unfortunately he was shot dead, the other 2 halted.
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Pte. John McHale 2nd Btn. Parachute Regiment This is the story as told by my father, John McHale, shortly before his death in 1984.
He was a Red Beret, who had parachuted into Arnhem in September 1944. He was a trained sniper, and carried a special rifle for which he said he would have been shot immediately by the Germans had they found him with it.
My father reported that once on the ground there was no form of communication and as the paratroopers did not all land in the same place, he did not know where his unit was or where to go.
There were more Germans than expected. He recalled crawling in the gutters of the roads at night to try to avoid detection. He told how he had been given shelter by residents of the town, and spent some days in the loft where he sat on a tin bucket as the Germans, in checking the houses, would fire machine guns through the ceiling into the loft. He survived this, but decided that he needed to leave as he was putting the lives of the family in danger.
Upon leaving the house, he was coming down the stairs as a young German started to come up. My father said that there was a split second when their eyes met and both men would much rather have just passed on the stairs with a nod. However, it was down to who could shoot first, and my father killed the German before running out of the house.
He was captured in Arnhem and taken to Stalag XIIA in Limburg where he remained until the end of the war. He reported the conditions to be appalling, and as he was Scottish, he was treated worse than the English soldiers being the last to get food, and very little of it. This was all he ever said about his war time experiences.
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Pte. Albert Heron 2nd Btn. Parachute Regiment (d.30th Nov 1942) Albert Heron died of his wounds on 30th of November 1942 while in action in Tunisia, North Africa, and is commemorated at Medjez-El-Bab Memorial. He is also remembered at his local village churchyard on his father's head stone, as well as the local war monument in honour of the men of Hunwick and Helmington.
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Fus. Samuel "Paddy" McWilliams 2nd Btn. Parachute Regiment My Dad, Samuel McWilliams, was in 7th Platoon, C Company, 2nd Parachute Regiment and was on railway bridge at Arnhem when it was blown up. He was knocked out but was ok. He and others fought their way back to road bridge to join up with J Frost and other para's, one being Gerry Perry my future father in law. After the battle and end of the war. I started going out with Ann Perry and one evening was asked in for a cup of tea. And later Gerry came home said hello and asked my name, I was shown an old photo and asked if I knew anybody on it I said yes that's my dad. The following day I took my dad round to see Gerry and the tears and smiles lit up the room both of them thought each other had been killed. Then the whiskey came out. Bless them!
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