Geoffrey Pattinson

15/04/1924 – 16/05/2018

Geoffrey was one of the men who was going to land on the battery on a glider. The gliders had to land in the battery perimeter and engage the garrison, creating confusion. When the time comes, he gets on his glider with all his comrades before taking off, towed by planes. When suddenly there was a loud noise and the glider swerved powerfully and began to fall. The glider landed with a forward jerk and then it skidded while making noise and stopped. He thought he had arrived at his objective, he took his weapon at full speed and was prepared to get out of the glider when Lieutenant Smythe, the chief officer in command of the glider told them that the towing cable had broken, Forcing them to make a forced landing. They were still in England on the Odiham airfield. They could leave at the end of the afternoon and landed around 9 pm, near the village of Ranville.
On June 8, the 9th Battalion took up position around St. Como Castle. The castle was a dominant element in the village of Ranville and the bridges on the canal of Caen and the Orne below. It was imperative that this ground remain in the hands of the Allies and the Germans would fight hard to take it from them. On June 10, Geoffrey was part of a six-man patrol commanded by Sergeant Woodcraft who were sent to the castle to make sure he was unoccupied. They moved through the cover of the nearby woods until they reached the castle and its surrounding stables and began searching the area. After finding the castle without an enemy, Geoffrey and Corporal Jack Watkins moved to the area behind the stables and saw a German patrol, which shot them with a light machine gun, injuring Geoffrey in the legs.