George A. Moodie

20/02/1925 – 25/01/2012

George ‘Jock’ Moodie was born in Edinburgh in Feb 1925. A keen footballer, he was expected to play for Hearts until the war got in the way. When his call up papers came he wanted to join the R.A.F as a gunner. They promptly put him in the army. He joined the Royal Scots for 8 months when he saw the poster asking for volunteers for the Airborne he promptly applied. He soon found himself at Hardwick Hall, at that time the paras training depot. After passing through the training he went to Ringway to get his wings and after successfully completing his 8 jumps was awarded the red beret and wings. Further training followed at the battle camp where his training intake was split in half between the 1st and 6th Airborne divisions. He was placed in the 9th para battalion, formerly the 10th Essex, in 12 Platoon of C company. 

After a  while and with only 150 men they moved up to the firm base to carry out the attack on Merville Battery with a much improvised plan. He went in with Alan Jeffersons assault group, going through the wire; he stopped to help a mate who’d got himself entangled and dropped his rifle before carrying on into the battery heading for Casemate 1. He saw Alan Jefferson get hit and go down on the way. He reached the casemate after Sid Capon and Frank Delsinior who had already entered. After some hand to hand fighting in and around the casemate, the artillery piece inside was put out of action.

After the war he went to Palestine for 3 years, ending up in the 3rd Battalion when the 6th Airborne Division was disbanded. 

He met and married Hillary Slone in 1949 – she was a parachute packer.

George’s last visit to Normandy was in 2011. He passed away in January 2012 and his grand-daughter Izzy Roberts jumped his ashes into Normandy that year.