6141287 Sergeant Arthur James Ayres
6141287 Sergeant Arthur James Ayres was born on 18th May 1920 in Gravesend, Kent, the son of
James Richard Ayres and Lucy Florence Ayres (née Hawkes). He was no stranger to a military background;
on 19th June 1921, aged 1 year and 1 month, he was living at Middx Drill Hall Hanworth Road, Hounslow
where his mother was the caretaker.
In the spring of 1939 he married Irene Bessant in Wandsworth, London.
After successfully completing parachute course 54 at Ramat David,
Palestine, Arthur was assigned to Support Company as Section commander of the Medium Machine Gun (MMG)
Platoon, 11th Parachute Battalion.
His first operational Jump was on the Island of Kos in September
1943.
The operation went very well and he was soon back in Palestine.
Arthur set off from Saltby airbase with the other men of the 11th Parachute Battalion for Holland on
Monday, September 18, 1944, at approximately
10:30 AM.
He remembered that when he went out the door of his plane over the landing zone (LZ) he could see
the tracer bullets going past his face. “It was the worst jump that I‘ve ever had”, he later
said.
During an interview on December 21, 1944, he said the following.
“We arrived in the west of
Arnhem
late that Monday evening. Early the next morning, the attack began towards the road bridge to support
Colonel Frost and his men. The fighting was a bit spasmodic at first and then a good deal of street warfare.
The Germans had been reinforcing all the time and out came a sticky part for us, one of the worst parts. We
were left to fight a rear-guard action. Myself, my two machine guns and their crews and an anti-tank gun and
their crew. We got a German tank, routed two others and with the machine guns stopped some German infantry
that were advancing up the road”.
Ultimately, after heavy fighting, they had to withdraw to the
outskirts of Oosterbeek. After nine day of severe fighting, Arthur crossed the river Rhine and got in safety
behind allied lines.
For his outstanding bravery during the Battle of Arnhem, Arthur was awarded the American Silver Star. The
citation says:
“During the action at Arnhem from 18th to 25th September, Sergeant Ayres showed the
most
outstanding courage in the manner in which he kept his machine guns in action. At no time did he let them go
unmanned despite continuous enemy mortar and shell fire. His example and devotion to duty were of the
highest order. During the heaviest shelling and small arms fire he was always to be seen, going round
encouraging his men. On more than one occasion he led a party under heavy shell fire to deal with snipers
who were interfering with the guns. He was entirely responsible for the successful beating off of two large
scale counter attacks on his sector. It was due to the exceptional valour of Sergeant Ayres and his
disregard of danger that the machine guns were kept in action and the vital part of the sector held
intact”.
After being discharged on 3rd April 1946, Arthur returned home and when he was awarded his war medals
in August 1950 was living at 12, Chestnut Grove, Balham, London SW12.
In 1955 Arthur was working as a police officer and made several trips by ship to and from Singapore,
all whilst he was still married and living at Chestnut Grove.
On 9th May 1955 he arrived in London on the P & O S N Company ship SS Canton.
On 30th September 1955 he was due to depart on the P & O S N Company ship Chusan. It appears he
decided
not to sail on that ship, instead setting sail from Southampton on the Nederland Line Royal Dutch Mail ship
Oranje on 28th October 1955. It is not known how or when he returned to England.
On 10th June 1996 Arthur died in Thurrock, Essex.
We are still researching the life of Sergeant Ayres. If you are a relative or have any information about him,
please contact us.