Obituary of youngest Market Garden glider pilot

[Monksilver]

I thought people here might find the below of interest:

 

In September 1944, at the age of 19, Frank Ashleigh was the youngest airman to take part in Operation Market Garden.

 

Frank Ashleigh from Kingsbury, who served in WWII with the Glider Pilot Regiment, died on 18 June 2023 after a short stay in hospital - he was 98. Frank is survived by his wife Mavis and two sons, Paul and Philip, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Frank volunteered in December 1942 at the age of 18. He had been a welder in civilian life and was assigned the role of a regimental policeman. When there was an appeal for glider pilots, Frank immediately volunteered and was sent to the RAF for evaluation.

Having passed the flying aptitude tests, he was posted to Salisbury Plain for six weeks intensive training and was accepted as a Glider Pilot. He learnt to fly in a Tiger Moth biplane, before learning to fly a glider and then being taught how to fly a Horsa, which with its 80ft wingspan could carry a hefty load.

 

Frank was involved in 16 planned and subsequently cancelled operations before, in September 1944 at the age of 19, he flew into the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden. Frank was the youngest airman of the operation and successfully landed his glider carrying a jeep, two trailers and four men in the landing zone at Wolfheze.

 

That first night, they slept in the basement of a café near the landing zone before making their way to Hotel Hartenstein (now the Hartenstein Museum) where they began digging a slit trench. Always the first to volunteer, Frank then found himself leaving the safety of the trench on an assignment to find out where the German troops were.

 

But the small group of four glider pilots encountered enemy soldiers everywhere they looked on the road to Oosterbeek.

They dived into a Roman Catholic church and hid in the belfry, taking turns to shoot at the enemy with a rifle from its window.

 

The expert shooters would take out '15 to 20 Germans' at a time, shooting to wound instead of kill so that extra men were needed to dress their wounds.

Despite relentless bombardment, the men held firm for four days before the Germans gained entry and made them surrender.

 

They had not eaten for 96 hours and, out of grudging respect for their rearguard, the enemy soldiers brought them some food.

Sergeant Ashleigh, of the Glider Pilot Regiment, was initially taken to Stalag Luft VII then forced to march for 87 miles in minus 20C temperatures to Stalag Luft III, the scene of the 'Great Escape' made famous in the 1960 film of the same name. 

He spent the rest of the conflict as a Prisoner of War there.

[Raptorattacker]

Rest In Peace Mr Ashleigh...