MARKET GARDEN
Born in 1919, in the North Yorkshire village of Rillington, he was always known by the shortened version of his name – ‘Ray’. His father was a farm worker in nearby Malton.
Aged fourteen, Ray became an errand boy for a seed company based in York.
He acquired the nickname ‘Smiler’ because he always had a grin on his face.
At the start of the Second World War, aged just twenty, Ray was conscripted and was ordered to report to Ramsgate.
He was stunned to spend his first night in the military forced to sleep on the floor with his boots as a pillow and only one blanket to keep him warm.
As he could already drive, Ray was assigned to the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and immediately sent abroad.
It was his job to drive three-ton lorries delivering petrol to British troops in both Belgium and Northern France.
The petrol was stored in leaking fuel tins. Ray remembered this as, “Being a bit of a nuisance.”
When his unit was ordered to retreat, they got caught up in the scramble to reach Dunkirk.
However, Ray said to himself, “This isn’t for me.” He decided to escape by going into France – the opposite way from everybody else.
Ray joined forces with a Major who had become detached from his regiment. “He made it clear he didn’t like enlisted men – but he could speak French. And I could drive.” The two of them became unlikely comrades.
They stole an Austin truck loaded with bully beef and biscuits, and they drove to Lille.
On the platform at Lille railway station, they found eighteen stranded British nurses who had no idea how to escape.
The Major boarded the train and at gunpoint commandeered it, ordering the driver to take it to Le Havre.
Ray remembered the nurses, who hadn’t eaten for a few days, gorging themselves on the bully beef and biscuits during the journey.
On arriving at Le Havre, Ray made his way to nearby Cherbourg, where he persuaded a Dutch fishing boat to take him to Southampton.
When he landed back in England. Ray was transferred to the 250th Company Airborne RASC. He was promptly sent to North Africa.
From there, Ray was one of the few RASC drivers selected to be involved in the Allied invasion of Sicily.
He was also involved in ‘Operation Slapstick’, the naval landing at Taranto, Italy, in September 1943.
Ray was then transferred to the RASC 1st Airborne Division. In 1944, they were involved in ‘Operation Market Garden’, the Allied attack at Arnhem in the Netherlands.
Ray was flown across the channel in a Horsa 491 glider, carrying a jeep and ammunition. The aim was to capture a bridge over the river Rhine, which was held by the Nazis. British paratroopers were dropped on the other bank of the river, so that the assault could take place from two sides.
Ray remembered, “We flew over the North Sea and over land and we were shot at by anti-aircraft guns, but we were not hit.”
The Horsa was still under fire when it landed, eight miles from Arnhem Bridge. The men marched to within a short distance of the bridge, at Oosterbeek, before digging trenches and settling in. They could see the paratroopers on the other side of the river.
Things did not go well. A heavy counter-attack from the Germans meant the bridge was not captured. Ray said, “I could see the carnage at the bridge and the death of my colleagues. It was awful!”
Ray and his group were trapped for nine days. They had only been given one days’ rations as it was expected the fighting would be over quickly. These had been totally consumed in the first twenty-four hours.
Consequently, the men had no food for eight days, other than a tame rabbit stolen from a hutch by a cockney soldier. It was boiled in a tin of water held over a fire of twigs.
They watched food parcels being dropped from the sky – which always fell into areas controlled by the Germans.
The men took it in turns to get water from the river, in the only bucket they had – a risky mission. However, during one journey, guns opened up and the bucket was riddled with bullet holes. Ray said later, “It was all very exciting.”
Eventually, the soldiers in the trench decided to make a break for freedom. Ray said, “I was glad to be out of it.” They escaped into the night.
Although it was pitch black, they immediately ran into a German patrol. There was an exchange of fire and in the melee, Ray got separated from the others.
He immediately wandered in the wrong direction – back towards the river. He found a railway line and took its route. Then, on the riverbank, he found a couple of other British soldiers, not from his unit.
They found a moored rowing boat and took to the water. It had no oars, so Ray used the butt of his rifle as a paddle. When they reached the other side, the men separated.
Eventually, Ray made it to Nijmegen, where he was reunited with the British forces. He was the only man from the trench at Oosterbeek, to make it back to safety.
Ray was in England for VE Day.
Demobbed, he went back to York to resume his job as a seedman.
The following year, the Rank Organisation made a film of the action at Arnhem Bridge. It was called ‘Theirs Is the Glory’ (also known as ‘Men of Glory’). The film company persuaded two hundred men, including Ray, who had fought there, to return and play themselves as extras. They were paid £3 a day.
Ray plays himself in the film, although he was not credited.
The movie became the highest grossing war film in Britain until the late 1950s.
A later, more famous film was made about Operation Market Garden. It was called ‘A Bridge Too Far’. Ray’s character does not appear in the film.
In 1947, Ray married Iris in Malton. They had three children: Paul, Tim and Jill.
With the money he had saved from his army salary, Ray decided to open his own business. He started a greengrocers and flower shop in Castlegate, Malton. As time passed he expanded the business, running various market stalls as well.
One regular customer to Ray’s shop said, “The shop was always so colourful and smelled beautiful with all the flowers standing tall in their large buckets – like soldiers. Ray always had a twinkle in his eye.”
She added, “He was kind, he was generous, he was compassionate and he brought joy to the lives of all he met.”
Ray continued running his business until he was ninety years old, when he finally decided to retire.
Ray’s wife, Iris, died in 1994.
Each September, Ray made an annual pilgrimage to Arnhem to commemorate those who died in Operation Market Garden. He was also invited to the ceremonies to mark the liberation of the Netherlands.
In 2015, Arnhem veterans were driven from London to the Netherlands by the ‘Taxi Charity for Military Veterans’. 96 taxis carried 160 veterans, including Ray, to the continent.
Ray also spent a lot of time touring Dutch primary schools to explain to children about the attempt to liberate their country.
One boy asked him, “Were you scared?”
The reply was, “No, not really. I always looked around me and made sure there was a way out.”
The Dutch are the tallest race on earth – and because Ray was such a tiny man, he frequently found primary school children that towered above him.
In 2019, Ray was flown over the Arnhem battlefield in a two-seater glider.
He so enjoyed the experience, that it was repeated in 2022. Upon landing, Ray said, “It was wonderful. I could see for miles. I loved every minute and was very glad that when we came down it was still 2022 and not 1944.”
When Ray died, it is believed he was the very last survivor of the Arnhem campaign.
He was buried alongside Iris in Old Malton’s St. Mary’s Church – the last Gilbertine priory still used for regular worship in the country.
He was given full military honours with a Union Jack draped over his coffin and his red beret resting on it. A guard of honour was made up of veterans from the Parachute Regiment who had travelled from around the world to be present.
In the oration, it was said, ‘He was lucky to get out. That he escaped and fought at the bridge makes him exceptionally rare. That is underlined by the fact there are no Second World War veterans here today.”
His daughter, Jill, said, “He was proud to be a veteran.”
One of his grandchildren said, “As grandads go, we hit the jackpot. They don’t get more special.”
Sebastian Phillips, who runs the Taxis for Military Veterans charity said, “What an honour it was to have Ray Whitwell as a friend. He had a cheeky personality, was very friendly, witty, funny – and shared amazing stories of what he had witnessed during his life. I will really miss him. What a great man. A true hero.”
RIP Ray = Intrepid Paratrooper
