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Auction: 25001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 88

'It is always good to know some of us survived the War, it is a long time now but looking back we were very fortunate to get into Oosterbeek at all! And then to live to tell the tale is remarkable, many of our fellow Glider Pilots didn't survive that 10 days of chaos. How you managed to get over the Rhine at the evacuation is a marvel.'

So wrote Sergeant Thomas, 2nd Pilot, to Sergeant Cawthray.

The well-documented Battle of Arnhem campaign group awarded to Sergeant Pilot G. Cawthray, 23 Flight, 'G' Squadron, Glider Pilot Regiment

A pre-War professional cricketer who turned out for Yorkshire, Cawthray successfully went into action on Op Mallard - 6 June 1944, D-Day - and Op Market Garden, the Battle of Arnhem, sharing fully in the action over those famous days

1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, mounted as worn, good very fine (4)

George Cawthray was born on 28 September 1913 at Selby, Yorkshire and from a young age excelled as a cricketer, in perhaps the most important county for that game in England. Such was his skill that Cawthray shone for Brayton School, Hull Cricket Club and eventually the Second & First XI for the 'White Rose' County.

With the outbreak of the Second World War however, he joined the Glider Pilot Regiment (No. 4695914) and became a Sergeant Pilot, going through 21 EFTS during 1943 and having some 178hrs 25mins on his Flying Log Book by early May 1944 and having taken his 'Wings'.

Op Mallard

So it was that on 6 June 1944, flying with 23 Flight, 'G' Squadron, Glider Pilot Regiment he clocked up 2hrs of Night Flying in PW661, landing near Zetten, with Sergeant Thomas as 2nd Pilot, taking in a jeep & trailer and two motorcycles for the 1st Parachute Brigade, on D-Day itself. Little more need be said of the importance of the work of this embryonic unit on that fateful day. Cawthray was also called on as 2nd Pilot of Stirling 'B' on 26 August for an Op to France to assist the Special Operations Executive. He logged 6hrs 55mins and landed back at Harwell the next day.

Op Market Garden

The unit were of course to be kept plenty busy in September 1944, Cawthray went in with Sergeant Thomas again, taking Horsa PW656 on 18 September for their fateful three hour flight by day. Cawthray got them down and then shared in the epic events that followed. His name features in the diary of Lieutenant Mike Dauncey:

'18 September -

S/Sgt. Cawthray of our Sqdn arrived in great form - he had landed south of the Rhine and got his party with jeep over by the ferry - a good show.

Spent a shocking night hiding in our trenches on the banks of the Rhine waiting for an attack which did not materialise. Extremely cold. Had difficulty in keeping chaps awake as we were not to move about.'

He gives a good flavour of what Cawthray would have shared in on 25 September:

'Things started fairly early Monday morning, particularly on our left. The old tigers started coming down the road once more and I thought that if they did not have a little opposition they would go right through, so with one paratroop I took THE gammon bomb and set off through the gardens a little up the road and
settled down to wait for them at the side of a house by the road. We could hear them too clearly though they were moving very cautiously and obviously had plenty of ammunition. After a few minutes the chap with me belted off, so my local protection wasn’t too good. Eventually the tank crept into view and I waited until it was exactly level with me and ran forward and let fly with the bomb.

The result was disappointing. The fuze was quite a long one so I wondered if it would work however eventually after a long pause, there was a loud explosion and lots of dust but when it had all settled down the tiger looked very much the same as before. As I only had a pistol there wasn't much future in staying put so I made my way back to my house which had been evacuated. A little further down the road there was a sort of barn complete with outhouses etc. where there were about 4 chaps rather wondering what to do We arranged a little ambush around here (after a little hand grenade duel) as of course they were quite close. I was told that they had broken through on the other side of the road and indeed this was
the case and we had a slogging match across the street using the Bren and pistols.

Just then someone shouted "Look out here they come" and two chaps darted off. However luckily it wasn’t true. However I was then shot through the thigh. The two other chaps with me one of them wounded in the face were very good. We all got down one man looking out for the jerries and the other helped me to dress my leg. We had just done that and were deciding on the next step when something came over the corner of the outhouse and landed about 3 feet away. I turned to see what it was and the grenade exploded immediately in my face. The two paraboys were excellent and put a shell dressing over my mouth. I could think clearly but felt very weak. The two chaps then helped me to the RAP which unfortunately was
so full that I couldn’t get inside. I was left outside by the side of a dead man
where I stayed for some time until awakened by the rain when I managed to pull the dead man’s blanket partly over myself. I couldn’t get to that house though and stayed there until someone came outside and I managed to attract his attention.

The MO had been hit and it was impossible for the orderly and Padre to do anything as there must have been at least 300 chaps there. The drill was get a blanket, find a spot to lie down and a cup of char (tea) but unfortunately this came out again through the hole in my chin which I have since heard from other people was a most amazing sight. The padre then did a very good thing - I don’t know the time but fighting was going on all around with the tigers knocking all the houses for six as usual and he went outside with the Red Cross flag and told the tank commander the situation with the result that we were left alone.'

Cawthray was lucky not to go 'in the bag', as recalled in a letter by Sergeant Thomas:

'...It is always good to know some of us survived the War, it is a long time now but looking back we were very fortunate to get into Oosterbeek at all! And then to live to tell the tale is remarkable, many of our fellow Glider Pilots didn't survive that 10 days of chaos. How you managed to get over the Rhine at the evacuation is a marvel.'

The Log Book confirms his flight from Brussels to Northolt on 29 September as 2nd Pilot on Dakota DK866, no doubt glad to have a break from the controls. Cawthray then transferred out to India.

Postscript

At the conclusion of hostilities and having been released, the gallant Cawthray returned to his native Yorkshire and took up the position of professional and groundsman at Hull. He would play four First Class matches for Yorkshire in a career that spanned 1939-52. He scored 114 runs and took 4 wickets, besides it being said that he scored 30,000 runs, and had taken 3,000 wickets in the amateur game.

Taking up the post of Head Groundsman at Headingley, he was at the helm for the 1975 Ashes series. That series saw his Leeds Test Match abandoned as a result of sabotage to the pitch, which was featured heavily in the press.

A long-standing Member of the Glider Pilot Regiment Association, he went out to Holland for the 50th Anniversary events in 1994 and died in January 2001.

Sold together with a large archive of original material including:

i)
His original cloth 'Wings', mounted as worn with metal backing and pin for fixing to uniform, besides silver and enamel sweetheart brooch.

ii)
His Pilot's Flying Log Book (Form 414), with all his Ops, rather soiled and binding worn, the important entries perfectly legible, together with his Soldier's Pay Book.

iii)
1944-94 Arnhem Anniversary silver Medal, by Rijks Munt, Utrecht, in its case.

iv)
A quantity of original documents, Membership Cards and original photographs.

v)
A folder with a series of unpublished letters from various comrades and friends, including Sergeant Thomas & Brigadier Dauncey amongst others.

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Estimate
£2,800 to £3,200

Starting price
£2600

Sale 25001 Notices
A newspaper report in the Sunday Mirror of 17 December 1944 gives moving details on how Cawthray swam the Rhine out of Arnhem, carrying a letter for his good friend, Sergeant Pilot Stanley Lewis, which he carried home to his wife and children to let them know he was thinking of them. Cawthray stated: "I am very lucky to be alive myself, having had my nose and both lips shot away, as well as bullet wounds in the head. Once again, please don't worry about Stanley - he's being well cared for."