NAM.2005-04-7-3

Third of three cassette tapes: Oral history interview with Capt A F Johnston, East Surrey Regiment and the Glider Pilot Regiment, 1939-1945. Interviewed by M Thomas on 4 Apr 2005 at Capt Johnston's home. After attending Sandhurst, Johnston was commissioned into the East Surrey Regiment in 1940 and undertook a spell of regimental duty before serving as a Liaison Officer at 11th Brigade HQ and then 4th Division HQ near Winchester. He then volunteered for the Glider Pilot Regiment and during training with the latter was badly injured, spending almost a year in hospital. On recovery he took part in the D-Day operation and the Arnhem landings. Captured during the latter campaign he was a prisoner of war for seven months at Stalag Luft 1 on the Baltic Coast before being liberated by the Red Army. Johnston then served with the Fighting Forces (FF), an organisation formed from freed Prisoners of War that assisted the Russians in maintaining control. He was eventually repatriated by the USAAF in May 1945 and resigned his commission in 1949 after a two year spell at the Army Physical Training School, during which he trained for selection for the British Olympic team. Associated with D-Day and Operation MARKET GARDEN, World War Two, North West Europe and POWs Germany (1939-1945), 1944.

D-Day, 1944 (World War Two, North West Europe 1944-1945), MARKET GARDEN, Operation, 1944 World War Two, North West Europe 1944-1945)