Joe McAllister

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NAME:      Joe Henry McAllister

RANK:      Private

NUMBER: 14302764

DOB:        17/02/1924

 

Joe was called up in 1942 aged 18 and a half. Starting with the Royal Artillery, Joe was in the Army Air Corps by the tender age of 19. At 19and half yrs old, Joe volunteered for Parachute regiment in the May of 1943 for the excitement and an extra 2 shillings a day!!

 

Trained at Ringway, Manchester where he completed 8 x parachute drops – 2 from the balloon (zeppelin) and 6 from a hole in the floor of a Whitley Bomber. Joe finished training to be posted to 3rd Battalion, volunteering to be stick number 13 when jumping out of the Dakota.

 

Once training had finished, Joe was immediately posted to Algiers.

 

Based in Lincolnshire in Jan 1944 as part of 3rd Battalion 1st Airborne Div, Joe completed 6 x more parachute drops and was in training for ‘Operation Overlord’. On 6th June he and his comrades were told that the 6th Airborne Division had already completed the operation and Joe was badly disappointed that they had ‘missed out’ on the action.

 

Briefed for Operation Market Garden in Spalding, Lincolnshire - Part of the first lift in, Joe left 11am and was dropped on the Sunday 17th September 1944 at 14.00hrs.

 

Joe recalls how breath-taking and amazing the sight was and struggled to find the words to describe it. He remembers landing and saying to another soldier ‘Well that was a piece of cake’.

 

“I got to within half a mile. Our route was to go down the middle but instead we went to the railway bridge because there was so much street fighting encountered. We got to the centre and became trapped in a cul-de-sac. 100 men fighting for a full day.”

 

Joe and 37 comrades managed to get out of the cul de sac and made their way to the pavilion on the Rhine. Joe was not sure what happened to all and presumes some also escaped. RSM JC Lord and Colonel Fitch were also in this party.

 

Tues 0430hrs - Joe and others advanced along the Rhine. They were mortared and received heavy machine gun fire – which forced them back. On Tuesday he was wounded in both legs (shrapnel) and couldn’t move, left on the Rhine Bank while the other lads retreated. 6hrs later, Panzer tanks and 2 x German crew jumped out and took him prisoner. At this point Joe really thought his days had ended! But luckily enough those German soldiers took him to hospital where he slowly recovered from his injuries.

 

It has been an honour to have known Joe personally and I am sure so many of us have been humbled by him as a soldier, a husband and our brother.  Rest in Peace Joe “ We will remember You”

 

As I receive further details of funeral arrangement I will pass on to members

 

Regards

Brian Welsh

Branch Secretary

Liverpool PRA