Captain / Reverend Edward Nelder Downing
Unit : Battalion Headquarters, 4th Parachute Battalion
The following extracts are from the short book "Padre with the Para", by the Reverend "Joe" Downing, 1990.
It was from the airport of Rome that we flew on our first major Operation. This was the Invasion of the South of France, for which the 4th Battalion's rendezvous was the village of Le Muy, near the Gulf of Fréjus, between Cannes and Toulon. I later wrote some verses about our Flight:
D. MINUS ONE
Piled in the lorries,
Drove through Rome,
Down Route Seven,
Out of the 'Drome.
Kit unloaded,
Harness tried,
'Chutes to the "Ship" and
Safely inside.
Picked up bedding;
Over to tea;
An hour for eating
And sleep for three.
Bedding stacked;
Equipment on;
"'Chutes all fastened?"
"Give a hand, John."
"Line Up! Number!
Stick, emplane!"
Engines turning,
Switched off again.
Engines roaring -
Half Past One:
Now for the take off -
Let her run.
Now we're airborne;
Engines drone;
"No more smoking";
The die's thrown.
A bit of sleeping;
Cramped a bit;
Nerves a bit tightened:
This is it!
To France from Italy
On we fly;
Nearer and nearer.
Three hours gone by.
Half an hour left now:
"Fasten your strop!"
Whole stick standing,
Waiting to drop;
Ten seconds'
warning
Red light on;
Green light flashes,
And now we're gone.
Parachutes open;
Air full of men;
A few more seconds,
And then, what then?
"What then?" My firm intention had been that, on landing, I would cut off a piece of my parachute for a souvenir. The landing was just after First Light, and I had expected to hear gun-fire all around. But there was not a sound to be heard, and not a soul to be seen, and in my surprise I clean forgot my piece of parachute.
I wandered around for some minutes, and at last met another man. We wandered around for some minutes till we were greeted by some Frenchmen who said, "Nous sommes Maquis". They gave us directions, and we shook hands warmly. Now knowing the direction of the village, we soon found ourselves in a stream headed for Le Muy.
The procedure for me was to link up with the Doctor, and I found him established in a small cottage. Then the Gliders began to arrive with air-landing troops. Suddenly a Glider crashed in the field beside the cottage, and we all raced over. One man was brought out dead, another with some broken bones. A third, a Sergeant, was trapped with a piece of the Glider's metalwork sticking into his chest. As we tried to release him, with no success because of the pain any movement caused him, I became aware of one beside me giving orders in a tone of authority. I looked round, and it was General Down, dressed as a perfectly good Private. Soon after this the trapped man died, and then he was released in seconds.
Meanwhile our Colonel, and with him "A" Company, who were to make the initial attack, had not arrived, and the 2nd in Command, "Pincher" Martin, sent in C Company, who thus lived up to their chosen motto, "Semper in Excreta" Not quite grammatical, but surprisingly true.
The Colonel and the rest reached us next morning, having marched some twenty-five miles from where they had been dropped. It was the only time I ever saw Vic Coxen seriously angry...
The Invasion Force in southern France was mainly American, with some Free French, and ourselves the one British Brigade Group. We expected to go into central France with the rest; but a change of plan decreed that we should stay behind and march into Fréjus, where we rested about a week in some Barracks on the landward side of the town.
Fréjus is an ancient place in quiet contrast with the Lido-like Saint-Raphael across the bay. I fell in love with Fréjus Cathedral. It is architecturally not particularly striking, except for the Baptistery, a fine 5th century circular building. But there was a peace, which was Prayer.
One of the Clergy came and spoke to me, seeing my Chaplain's armband. "Vous êtes Catholique?" I said I was "Prêtre Anglican". That seemed to puzzle him a little, but "Did I believe in La Présence Réelle"? I said "Mais oui!", although whether we should both have given the same definition of the term I was not quite sure. But he seemed satisfied, and more recent experience has made me feel that we should have differed little, if at all.
Be that as it may, that Church was redolent with prayer, and I tried to express it in the following verses:
THE OLD CATHEDRAL
I was silent. A thousand years there
Men had pondered and prayed;
They had brought their hopes and tears there,
They had sighed, or been afraid,
And they had prayed.
Those are the ancient places;
Alive is the unseen past;
There glances from ancient faces
Mysteriously are cast
Out of the past.
And Time was found to cease there,
With its wandering cries and fears,
And I had great peace there,
Peace come from beyond the years,
Beyond all fears.