Thanks to Ron's daughter Shelley who has kindly provided the information contained in this story. Most especially, we are grateful to Shelley for providing the letter from her mum; this is a wonderful insight into the exploits of the 11^th. I don't think it calls for any further comment!!!

1546711 Private Ronald Michael Scott, (known as Ron), a man of Anglo-Indian origin, was born in Bombay, India on 1st July 1916.

In 1939, he travelled from his then home, Johannesburg up to Aden in North Africa at the outbreak of war, to join the Royal Artillery on 2nd September 1939. He served as a gunner across the Middle East, including Palestine.

After volunteering for the Parachute Regiment and successfully completing his parachute training at Ramat David, he was posted to the 11^th Battalion.

In January 1944, along with the rest of the battalion, he travelled over to Liverpool on the HMS Orion.

Ron was billeted at Welby Camp and, for a short while, as part of B company, at Kibworth Old Hall. It was here that he met Jean Dewick at a Kibworth village hall dance.

Having only met a short time earlier, in September 1944, Ron had to leave Jean behind while he dropped at Arnhem with the rest of the men of the 11th Battalion, ending up on the Lonsdale perimeter. After what must have felt like a lifetime of battle, Ron later crossed the Rhine back to relative safety in Operation Berlin.

When he got back, he was made up to Sergeant. His first order was to guard young paras, who had refused to go to Arnhem. Ron refused to do this, so was broken down and sent back to the Royal Artillery.

The remainder of his war was spent in the Rumstedt push ending in Cologne.

Ron and Jean married in August 1946, having six children between them and living at Kibworth in one of the new houses that had been ‘built for heroes’.

He worked as a railway signalman until 2 years before his death on 11th December 1982, aged 66 years.

Ron went back to Arnhem only once, in 1980, for a commemoration event, where he tried to find the grave of his friend James ‘Ginger’ O'dell, who he had been with when he was killed during the battle. Sadly, he never found it. (James was first buried in the garden of a house in Ploegseweg (Oosterbeek), now Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery 26.B.17.)

Shortly before her own death in 2010, Jean wrote this letter in response to a request for information about the 11^th Parachute Battalion.