Jim Hannah

Jim Hannah, from Strathaven had already served in the army for two and a half years when he volunteered for the newly formed 6th British Airborne Division.

At the age of 23 he found himself preparing to land in Normandy in a glider.

"We were to land in Normandy at 3am," explains Jim. "We'd been told we just had to wait on the troops advancing from the beaches but all we could think was 'What if they don't make it – what happens to us?' "

The German threat to the British Isles was only 20 miles away across the Channel and so it was imperative to get men over in large numbers as well as all the equipment needed to liberate France.

"In our glider we had a jeep fully loaded with petrol, a trailer full of medical supplies, ammunition and anti-tank guns, a motorbike, five men plus the two pilots," says Jim.

"Others carried 24 fully-armed troops plus the two pilots and the idea was that we'd all go down in the one area at the same time. The gliders were huge, sometimes bigger than the planes that towed them."

The gliders were made of plywood and had been designed to crash-land. They were meant to be used just once and quickly became known as flying coffins.

"The drill was that you went in as low as possible and came down as quickly as possible," explains Jim. "The main Normandy landing was made in the dark and we cast off just as we hit the French coast, flying at 7000ft. Our objective was to capture the Pegasus Bridge and the glider that landed closest to it was just 47 ft away. It has been described as one of the greatest feats of flying in WWII."

The gliders landed at 100 mph with no brakes and skidded to a halt with the help of a cleverly designed ski underneath and although there were heavy casualties the 6th Airborne seized every objective it was allocated in Normandy.

The Division was involved in many more significant battles including the Battle of the Ardennes in 1944 and the crossing of the Rhine in 1945.

"The crossing of the Rhine was the gliders' death knell," says Jim. "The Germans were waiting for us and they could see the build-up of troops. Hitler had ordered them to fight to the last man for the Fatherland because he knew if we got across the Rhine it would be the beginning of the end for them.

"Out of the 380 British gliders used, only 87 landed untouched. Thirty seven of them were burned out with a complete loss of life. The one I was in had part of the wing shot away but the pilot managed to jack-knife it into the forest. It was hell on earth – there were burning gliders, burning farm houses, dead bodies, dead cattle."

Jim's Division linked up with the ground troops later that day. Their job was to seize bridges before the Germans could blow them up so that they could make a quick exit.

"After we crossed the Rhine we advanced through Germany," explains Jim. "The Germans started surrendering to us in their thousands because they didn't want to be taken by the Russians."

They captured a large aerodrome in Hanover where they discovered an underground bunker containing maps of every country in the world. Jim couldn't resist bringing back a souvenir.

"I brought back the map of Strathaven," laughs Jim. "It's really detailed and even includes the area's farms. Back home they'd removed all the signposts so that any German paratroopers landing wouldn't know where they were but the map proves we needn't have bothered. Whenever we couldn't find somewhere on our road atlas we'd look at the German map and find it no bother!"

Jim and his division reached Wismar, a large town on the Baltic coast where they were ordered to take the airport on May 7, 1945 – later that evening the war in Europe would be over.

"The Russian army appeared that day but we were told not to fraternise with them," says Jim. "The next day, those not on duty were given some time off, although we still had to carry arms.

"A friend and I wandered into the Russian sector, against regulations, when all of a sudden this crowd of them came over the hill carrying Tommy guns. We thought we were being taken prisoner but they took us to their Officers' Mess in a nearby village and laid on a meal of mince and potatoes.

"The young officer in charge us how his mother, father and sister had been taken out of their house by the Germans and shot for no reason. After the meal they took us outside and I had to inspect a guard of honour and then they escorted us back to the boundary and gave us a hearty farewell."

Jim never forgot that day and 40 years later he was presented with a medal by the Russian Ambassador because he and his friend had been the first British troops to meet the Russian army.

As a specialist division, the minute the war was over in Germany, the 6th Airborne was hauled out to prepare for the attack on Japan.

"We were kicking our heels down in Salisbury just as the war with Japan ended and I was thinking 'This is wonderful – home and dry, what else can we get into?' " reflects Jim.

"We were told to pack up and go to Palestine and looking back I find it sad. At the time we were overjoyed that Britain was safe and yet very few of us would come back from the Middle East. We lost over 400 men there - I'd been in Ireland at the beginning of the war and when I came back from Palestine I predicted that those two countries would never have peace."

From Palestine Jim was demobbed via Egypt. He'd seen six years' active service and has never regretted a minute of it.

"When I see my grandchildren, one of whom is over 30, and I think back to the war, I was much younger than them but was in charge of a group of men and we were fighting for our lives," says Jim. "Back then we grew up quicker than the present generation. I found I was serving with an elite corps of men who would have taken the shirts off their back for me.

"I think I've turned out a better person for serving in the war. When I came back I was shocked at the narrow-minded, bigoted attitude to life some of the people had who'd never been away. I came back better able to cope with the things life throws at you and I found I was able to adjust to situations whereas the people around me would make a mountain out of a molehill over trivia.

"What really got to me though, was when I lost close comrades and I had to bury them," continues Jim. "I've never forgotten that and I've been back to Ranville cemetery in Normandy, where the main Airborne landing was. There were so many dead they just left them in a field and made a war cemetery out of it. I've been back three times to visit the grave of the lad I buried there.

"I'm not looking for praise for what happened and once I disappear from the planet I, as a person, will be forgotten but what I was part of won't."

This interview was done earlier in the year. Jim sadly died in June but his family wanted us to include the piece in his memory.