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Captain Cuthbert Hardy Hastings
Unit : No.2 Forward Observation Unit
Army No. : 235033
Awards : Mentioned in Despatches
Cuthbert "Pat" Hastings was granted an emergency commission in the Royal Artillery on the 23rd May 1942. During the following year he volunteered for the Airborne Forces and completed parachute course 94/95 at R.A.F. Ringway, running from the 6th to 20th December 1943. He was posted to the 150th Field Regiment (South Notts Yeomanry), a part of the 51st (Highland) Division, where he served as a Forward Observation Officer.
He was subsequently attached to the 13th Parachute Battalion, with whom he jumped into Normandy on the 6th June, acting as their Forward Observation Officer until his own Regiment arrived on the beaches, whereupon he returned to his role as FOO to the 514th Battery.
Promoted to Captain, Hastings was posted to the newly formed No.2 Forward Observation Unit in September 1944. He participated in the Ardennes campaign and later the Rhine Crossing on the 24th March 1945. Thereafter he accompanied the 6th Airborne Division on their advance to the Baltic, and for his part in the campaign he was Mentioned in Despatches, which was announced in the London Gazette on the 4th April 1946. As a result of injuries received during his service, Captain Hastings was medically discharged from the Army on the 24th March 1947.
My thanks to Bob Hilton for this account.