Arthur Pickering

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716 (Airborne) Lt was a light composite company supporting the 6th Airborne Division. It's personnel were inserted by parachute and glider to gather and distribute supplies to the division's fighting troops.
Formed in May 1943 with 420 men under the command of Major E Clive Jones and first went into action in June 1944 with the D-Day landings. Although some of the company were dropped into Normandy some came be sea. The company returned to England in September 1944, now under the command of Major "Storky" Crane. On Christmas Day 1944 they took part in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes before a brief deployment to the Netherlands before returning to England again to prepare for Operation Plunder, the Crossing of The Rhine.
Their part of Operation Plunder was code named Operation Varsity, the largest airborne assault undertaken with 16,000 parachuters to be dropped to support the infantry crossing the Rhine. Operation Plunder, a joint Anglo-American-Canadian operation under the command of Field Marshall Montgomery, started on the 23rd of March with the airborne troops being dropped the next day. 541 planes carrying paratroopers, plus 1050 troop carries towing 1350 gliders took part in the operation. Their objective was to establish a foothold for the infantry around the village of Hamminkeln and the town of Wesel.
The operation was a success with bridges on the River Issel taken, German forces cleared out of Diersfordter Forest and roads taken to stop supplies reaching the German forces.

Arthur was 1 of 4 from his company to be killed that day.

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