Tribute to pilot who served at D-Day Landings
Veteran of Normandy and Arnhem bows out
One of the last surviving British Airborne Forces glider pilots who was involved in two of the most significant operations of the Second World War has died aged 97. Former Staff Sergeant Geoffrey Thompson, who married in Norton in 1942, died in hospital in York after being taken ill at the Wold Haven nursing home, Pocklington where he had been living since last October.
Mr Thompson was a volunteer glider pilot with Airborne Forces who flew troops and equipment into Normandy in Northern France as part of the D-Day operations in June 1944 and was awarded a Legion D’Honneur for his contribution in 2005. He also successfully piloted a glider carrying men and equipment during operation Market Garden at Arnhem, Holland, in September 1944, before joining the battle.
Mr Thompson was in the attic of a house which was shelled and he was badly wounded.
Mr Thompson’s daughter Jackie Frear, 70, said: “He used to go over to Arnhem quite a lot for the reunions until about three or four years ago. He was a very sociable person, he got on with everybody.”
He was taken prisoner of war and endured “death marches” between camps in Germany in the winter of 1944/45. Mr Thompson weighed just over six stone when the camp was liberated by American troops.
Mr Thompson had to have four toes amputated from his left due to frostbite damage from his time as a POW.
Mr Thompson was born on November 15, 1919, at the North Star Temperance Hotel in Flamborough.
He was originally called up to serve with the Highland Light Infantry before being transferred to the Royal Artillery and then volunteering for Airborne Forces with D Squadron, Number One Wing, The Glider Pilot Regiment.
He married Joan Mouncer in Norton on September 30, 1942, and the couple had a daughter, Jacqueline, and son, Richard. His wife Joan died aged 71 in 1993.
After the war, Mr Thompson worked as a shop manager for Walter Wilsons grocery chain.