Etheridge, Albert Edward
- Date of birth:
- May 6th, 1916 (Forest Hill/London, Great Britain)
- Date of death:
- May 27th, 1991
- Service number:
- 6913223
- Nationality:
- British (1801-present, Kingdom)
Biography
After joining the Rifle Brigade on June 12, 1934, at the age of 18, then serving his first two years in England, Rifleman Albert Etheridge saw service in a number of locations, including: Malta (1936-1937), India (1937-1939) and then, Palestine at the outbreak of war. He remained in Palestine until he was accepted into the newly-formed 10th Battalion (4th Parachute Brigade), seeing service in Libya, North Africa and Italy, before returning to England in December 1943. Etheridge was sent to the Netherlands with 4th Parachute Brigade, 1st Airborne Division, 1 British Airborne Corps, dropping at Arnhem the day before his Battalion landed,
After the fighting, Etheridge found himself trapped in a cellar of a house, then escaped, regaining his freedom by swimming the Rhine River. He retuned to Arnhem directly after the war, to take part in the making of the film "Theirs is the Glory", in which he had a brief moment of stardom, uttering one sentence while drawing water from a household radiator.
He died age 75.
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Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM)
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- Private
- Unit:
- "B" Company, 10th Parachute Battalion, 4th Parachute Brigade, 1st Airborne Division, British Army
- Awarded on:
- September 20th, 1945
- Awarded for:
- Operation Market Garden
"On 18th September 1944 when 4th Brigade dropped at Arnhem, they found that the Germans were covering considerable portions of the dropping zone with machine gun and mortar fire. 10th Battalion found that the Germans were actually occupying the Battalion rendezvous and Officer Commanding "B" Company. was ordered to attack and secure it. Private Etheridge, "B" Company, had dropped the day before with the advance party and, realising that the rendezvous was held, had made a recce (reconnaissance) of it. He was thus able to give his Company Commander an accurate and valuable picture of this situation when he arrived. During the attack Private Etheridge noticed an enemy machine gun post which was causing considerable trouble to the Company from a flank. He decided to attack it himself and despite the concentrated fire his movements caused he advanced rapidly and without regard to his personal safety to close quarters, where he destroyed the gun and its crew with grenades. His prompt action undoubtedly saved the Company many casualties. On Tuesday 19th September the Battalion was dug in in a defensive position in a wood on the south side of the Arnhem-Renkum road just north of Wolfheze. The Battalion was under continual heavy fire from self propelled guns, flank guns in a ground roll, mortars and machine guns. In addition, snipers, taking advantage of the dense undergrowth and woods, were extremely active and were causing numerous casualties. Private Etheridge volunteered to go out alone to deal with these snipers. For approximately 3 hours he disregarded any thoughts of personal danger and sought out and silenced 4 enemy snipers. Throughout these days he gave an outstandingly high performance."
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
"Palestine" clasp
Sources
- - Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 37274 published on the 18 September 1945
- eMedals
- The Battle of Arnhem Archive
Photo
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