Company Sergeant Major Frank Stoddart

CSM Frank E. Stoddart joined the Parachute Regiment when the 10th Battalion The Essex Regiment was converted into the 9th Parachute Battalion in 1942. On the 6th June 1944, he was the 13th man to jump from Lieutenant-Colonel Otway's aircraft. Stoddart was a member of the Troubridge Party, whose task was to make a reconnaissance of the Merville Battery, but he, together with Lieutenant Slade and RSM Cunningham were instead sent to investigate what proved to be a fake battery. Having taken part in the assault on the Merville Battery, Stoddart was later wounded and evacuated from Normandy, probably during the subsequent fighting around the Chateau St Côme. Copyright: John Stoddart.

CSM Stoddart in the centre of the front row. Copyright: John Stoddart.