Acting Corporal Bob Stoodley
22nd Independent Parachute Company, 6th Airborne Division
Bob Stoodley signed up to fight aged just 16, but his mother scuppered his plans when she marched him straight back to the recruiting sergeant and revealed that he was underage.
When he finally convinced his mother that he needed to contribute to the war effort, Stoodley went back to the same sergeant who conveniently forgot what he had been told only months before.
After a spell with the Black Watch in Scotland, Stoodley volunteered for the parachute regiment, qualifying in July 1943. Soon afterwards he volunteered for a top secret 'Pathfinder' section who were being trained with new radar technology that would guide paratroopers in to the right location in the early hours of the invasion.
Stoodley was on the first pathfinder plane flying to Drop Zone K in , where he was wounded and taken Prisoner of War. After interrogation, Stoodley remained in Prisoner of War camp until he was freed in 1945.
