Happy D-Day B-Day
PARAS IN NORMANDY HERO TRIBUTE
BY STEPHEN STEWART A WAR hero who parachuted into the hell of D-Day was given the VIP treatment by serving paratroopers – on his 95th birthday.
Eric Tandy was joined by soldiers from the 4th Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, who wanted to meet their airborne brother to mark his birthday.
He was 20 when he was in charge of an aircraft carrying paratroopers from England to France in the early stages of the Normandy Landings on June 6, 1944.
Eric said: “Before us there was the Air Landing Battalion led by Major Howard. He dropped with six gliders right alongside Pegasus Bridge.
“The 7th battalion – that was mine – came in at midnight only five or 10 minutes behind Major Howard’s and we relieved them.
“I was the first on to the plane and, therefore, the last to exit, ensuring that all paratroopers had left the
aircraft. “Unfortunately, midway through the job of deploying the soldiers out, a medic was wounded by anti-aircraft fire. He crawled to the exit, resulting in delaying the rest of the ‘stick’ from exiting the aircraft, causing us to overshoot the drop zone by about 10 miles.”
Eric, from Glenrothes, tried to lead his men back to Pegasus Bridge – which involved a potentially deadly journey through a minefield.
As they moved forward, they saw a patrolling sentry coming their way and hid in a hedge – but were spotted by the guard. The sentry called for help and Eric and his men were quickly surrounded.
He and his comrades were taken to Stalag 357 at Fallingbostel where he was a prisoner of war for eight months.
Warrant Officer Second Class Martin O’Hear, of 4 Para said: “It was an absolute honour and pleasure to spend the day with this fellow airborne warrior.
“Eric is the exemplar of what a paratrooper should be.”