Colonel David Wood RIP

Kyt · Apr 28, 2009

Colonel David Wood - Telegraph

Colonel David Wood, who has died aged 86, commanded one of the glider-borne platoons which crash-landed into France in the opening minutes of D-Day.

Among the most important tasks in advance of the invasion was to seize intact two bridges in Normandy that were vital for the resupply of the 6th Airborne Division which would be arriving to secure the eastern flank of the British bridgehead.

Wood was in “D” Company 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, known as the 52nd. His OC was Major John Howard, a tough and demanding trainer of men.

At four minutes short of midnight on June 5, the first of six gliders took off, the others following at one minute intervals. The men inside were an intimidating sight. Their faces were blackened and each had a rifle or a Bren gun and six to nine grenades; some carried mortars.

At 18 minutes after midnight Wood, who was in the second glider, crash-landed near the bridge over the Caen Canal (later renamed Pegasus Bridge). He was thrown out by the force of the impact. He quickly recovered to find himself on the ground clutching to his chest a bucket of 36 primed grenades.

Howard, who only a few minutes earlier had staggered out of the wreckage of the leading glider, told him to get on with his task and Wood led the way, his men following him, as Howard said later, “like a pack of unleashed hounds”.

They attacked the Germans in the trenches at the near end of the bridge, but a burst of fire from an automatic pistol brought down Wood and his platoon sergeant beside him. Wood was hit in the left thigh by three bullets at close range and was bleeding badly. Later, when both bridges had been captured, he was wounded again by shrapnel splinters and had to be evacuated to England.

David James Wood was born at Corsham, Wiltshire, on February 23 1923 and educated at Monkton Combe . He enlisted in 1941 and became a Royal Fusilier before going to OCTU. From there he was commissioned and posted to the 52nd.

When Wood reported to him, Major Howard thought that the 19 year-old would be too young for the tough chaps in his company. “He was a fresh-faced, sandy haired lad,” Howard wrote in his diary, “and although he showed great enthusiasm, he isn’t much use to me but may shape up in time.” A year later, however, Howard admitted having “changed my mind completely”, writing: “Wood is a rattling good officer and I wouldn’t lose him for the world.”

After the war, Wood was granted a regular commission and rejoined the 52nd in Greece in 1949. He was GSO 3 (Ops) at HQ 1 (British) Corps in BAOR before commanding a company of the 1st Bn Green Jackets (which the Ox & Bucks had joined) in Cyprus.

One day, walking along a street in Limassol with a young subaltern of his company, there came a loud explosion on the other side of a wall not far from them. The young officer’s reaction was to jump smartly into a ditch. Wood kept on walking and said in his usual unhurried manner: “That sounds to me like a 36 Mills grenade. I think we had better go and have a look.”

An appointment as DAA&QMG at HQ 39 Brigade in Northern Ireland was followed by a spell at the US Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia.

In 1961 he was second-in-command of the 1st Green Jackets in Penang and subsequently on operations during the insurgency in Brunei. He was mentioned in despatches.

He served as Military Assistant to the Chief of Staff at HQ BAOR and was appointed MBE at the end of his tour. In 1966 he moved to Aden as Assistant Military Secretary Middle East Land Forces. After an appointment at Staff College, Camberley, and three years as Commander of Rhine Area, in 1977 he retired from the Army.

Wood settled in Devon, from where he returned almost every year to Normandy. He enjoyed the hospitality of many French friends and was a popular figure among his fellow veterans. In 2004, 60 years on from D-Day, he was appointed to the Légion d’honneur by the French government for his services to Anglo-French relations.

David Wood died on March 12. He married, in 1969, Alice Bingloss, a former officer of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps, who survives him. There were no children.
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Antipodean Andy · Apr 28, 2009

I'm guessing he was something of a legend for Pegasus Bridge? Rightly so. RIP.

John · Apr 28, 2009

Colonel David Wood. He served his country well. May he REST IN PEACE

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