Life Story

Reginald Burton joined the Army in December 1940 with the Leices-

ter Regiment. After two years serving with them, he transferred to the

Sherwood Foresters and went out to Tunisia with them as part of 1st

Army in 1942.

He then transferred to the Army Air Corps in late-October 1943,

apparently ‘lured by the extra 2 bob a week’, and joined HQ Coy, 8th

(Midlands) Parachute Battalion. His rst action with then was to be

noteable - Operation Overlord, which saw him jumping into Normandy

on D-Day, 5-6th June 1944. Like many that day, he later recounted

coming under re as the Germanas realised they were parachuting in.

Reginald was taken ill in Normandy and was withdrawn from combat,

but he remained in France. He returned to the UK with his unit and was

then deployed to the Ardennes in the Winter Offensive, before returning

back to the UK with the rest of the Battalion in February 1945.

Later, in March 1945 he returned to action to take part in the Rhine

Crossing (Op Varsity), and the subsequent advance across Germany

in March to the Baltic, returning to the UK in late May 1945 after VE Day.

His Airborne service continued after the end of the war, and he deployed

to Palestine as part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, serving

a further 103 days before being demobbed in late-January 1946 to join

the Territorial Reserve.

After leaving the Army he had a short spell in the Prison Service and