John Harold Jenkins

As a Staff Sergeant in the Glider Pilot Regiment he piloted a Horsa glider and landed near Hamminkeln. He and several of his comrades were ordered to round up and guard the German civilians in the local Protestant church.

The officer commanding our small party, Captain Turner, was busily organizing the round-up of all the civilians; the women and children being accommodated in the church and the men, in the church hall. Several Dutchmen, who were on forced-labour, were overjoyed at our presence and were put on their own, in the vestry, to their great delight. … Some of the locals, under escort, were detailed to milk the cows, in order to provide relief for the animals and sustenance for the children, whilst each woman was allowed to go home, also under escort, and bring back one suitcase of necessities. I well remember how my protegé, with her small child, ran the whole way back to her cottage, with repeated fearful glances over her shoulder at the awful "Red Devil" accompanying her. When we arrived at her home, she found that she had mislaid the key and I had to restrain her from scrambling through a window of broken glass, in her terror. I entered myself and let her in through the door and she then hastily grabbed a large suitcase, which was already packed in readiness for emergencies. After a quick search, I gave the OK and we retraced our steps to the church. "But for the Grace of God, these might have been our own women folk", I thought and as graciously as I could, took the heavy bag from her trembling fingers and carried it the rest of the way. In the evening, the Germans counter attacked and used the church spire as an aiming-point for their artillery. We had several casualties amongst the civilians, as one shell burst in the organ loft and another beside the pump, in the courtyard outside.

(recorded for the website “The Pegasus Archive“ www.pegasusarchive.org)