Tributes have been paid to the youngest airman to take part in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden who has died aged 98.
Sergeant Frank Ashleigh was a 19-year-old glider pilot in the largest airborne assault in history in September 1944, which failed to capture Nazi Germany’s industrial heartland.
After dropping off a jeep and trailers near Arnhem, Netherlands, he volunteered for a reconnaissance mission to make contact with the Germans.
But the small group of four glider pilots encountered enemy soldiers all along the road to Oosterbeek.
They hid in a church’s belfry, taking turns to shoot at the enemy from its window.
The dead-eyed shooters would take out “15 to 20 Germans” at a time, shooting to wound instead of kill as extra men were needed to dress their wounds.
They held firm for four days amid relentless bombardment, before the Germans forced them to surrender.
They had not eaten for 96 hours and, out of grudging respect for their rearguard, Nazi soldiers brought them food.
Sgt Ashleigh, of the Glider Pilot Regiment, was taken to Stalag Luft VII then forced to march 87 miles in -20C temperatures to Stalag Luft III – scene of the ‘Great Escape’. He spent the rest of the conflict as a PoW there.
After the war Sgt Ashleigh was heavily involved in Market Garden commemorative events and on the 75th anniversary in 2019, he spent time in a replica glider plane with King Charles III.
Frans Ammerlaan, founder of the Market Garden Foundation, said Frank was a “proud man”, adding: “On the Glider Pilot Monument in Wolfheze, a quote reads ‘The Glider Pilots were without doubt the finest body of men anybody could meet. The Lord must have chosen them carefully’. I could not say it better.”
Ronnie Weijers, of the Airborne Hartenstein Museum, said he will “never forget” Frank’s friendliness. Dick Goodwin, of the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, said: “He was a true gentleman with the most beautiful voice with which he so eloquently shared his war stories.”
Sgt Ashleigh, from London, died in hospital after a short illness last week.
His funeral took place on Wednesday.
