Winged Pegasus - 1944

80th D-Day Commemoration – Remembering the British & Soviet Sacrifice! (6.6.2024)

Specifically, the troops of the 1st Buckinghamshire (Light Bobs) Battalion of the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry (Territorials) – my grandfather’s Unit (he was part of an Anti-Tank Platoon) – intended to relieve D Company (Glider Troops) of the 2nd Battalion of the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry (Professional). My grandfather at one-point was barracked in Bovey Tracy in Devon – whilst his Unit trained around the Exeter Canal System – due to this place possessing a similar structure to that of the Canal System of Caen. This could have been to familiarise the “Light Bobs” with the Caen area they were supposed to advance toward from Sword Beach. This could have been my grandfather’s route into France – but I possess his shoulder badge – which is a Winged Pegasus (worn by Glider Troops). Whatever the case, his Unit was wiped-out and he fought on in the hedge-rows of France – fighting Vichy French and Nazi Germans.

Normandy: Remembering the Allied Sacrifices of D-Day (6.6.1944) – 79th Anniversary! (6.6.2023)

The British Glider Troops were tasked with seizing local landmarks (such as ‘Pegasus Bridge’) of tactical and strategic importance from the local Nazi German defenders – and hold these assets in the face of the expected Nazi German counter-attack. Meanwhile, Arthur Gibson (as a member of the Royal Navy) was busy protecting Northern Britain by preventing a Nazi German invasion – whilst keeping the sea lanes free of Nazi German ‘mines’ so that Allied Shipping could move (free of this risk) throughout the North Atlantic. This included the assisting of the Russian (Soviet) Arctic Convoys – although the presence of Nazi German U-Boats was an ever-present threat!