Notes from interview with Cedric McCarthy, 225th Parachute Field Ambulance: 30th May 2014 and 30th July 2014
Cedric McCarthy had his 21st birthday just days before the D-Day landings commenced, and was the youngest in his troop.
(The unit was raised almost a year to the day before D-Day - the 7th of June 1943).
Having completed 8 training jumps at Ringway in Manchester (3 of these were from balloons and the rest from old bombers) Cedric then went on to do a 3 week ‘toughening up’ course at Hardwick Hall. Prior to D-Day they spent 3 weeks closed in at Keevil aerodrome, in Wiltshire.
D-Day
Cedric was one of the first out of the plane just after midnight, and had to drop through a hole in the floor. (He said they had Dakota’s but the door was too small). He remembers being told they were part of, “two long lines of planes over the Channel, about 7 miles long.”
Part of his equipment was a ‘musette’ leg bag which was tied to the leg and lowered on a rope once their chutes had opened. To prevent blistering from the rope, they were issued with white silk gloves for the jump. Each musette bag weighed 50 to 60lbs and they carried a backpack which weighed the same. The bags were filled with medical equipment, needles, medicine and the like.
Cedric landed with a comrade, John Shirley and reached a road near to the village of Ranville. Whilst waiting in a trench by the roadside he was hit in the face by something and was bleeding. They thought nothing of it and made their way into the village to link up. Upon taking his helmet off, Cedric noticed a lot more blood and found that his lower lip was hanging down onto his chin, and had only been held in place by the chinstrap! He said he was one of the first to be stitched up by the company surgeon, Major Ferguson
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| General Richard Gale |
The company heard a rumour that General Richard ‘Windy’ Gale found a horse the night of the drop and rode it to his rendezvous point. Cedric also said one of his comrades, a young lad who was blind in one eye, got his parachute caught in a tree and was left suspended in mid air. not knowing how far the drop was, he hung there until first light when he realised he was only a foot or two from the ground.
They waited for hours for the resupply gliders to come in but only 6 out of the 12 arrived. Cedric’s mate, Ernie Lynne, landed a fair way away and had to sneak past German troops into Ranville. Another comrade, a full Colonel, set off to check on the state of play in Caen and had one of his fingers blow off.
Once his treatment had finished, Cedric and his pals were put to work straightaway from Tuesday through until Friday without a rest. When he was allowed a sleep break he fell asleep on a parachute in the corner of a room in the chateau they had ‘obtained’ for use as an aid station. PICTURE
Within the chateau, were 2 bathrooms side by side. After a short while, the Germans, realising the Allies had landed and taken over Ranville, cut off the water supply so, with the last of the water from the taps, they filled both baths to the top. (Upon returning to Normandy for a commemoration, Cedric visited the chateau. He said that the gates were closed and that 2 large black dogs stood guard. However, the owner of the house came out and, when Cedric mentioned he was a veteran, welcomed them in. The layout of the house had changed somewhat and one of the bathrooms had been removed. The owner was amazed to learn there had been two bathrooms previously and seemed to doubt it at first. So, Cedric walked towards the entrance door and pointed to the floor where there was a large rug covering up some of the floorboards. The owner pulled back the rug to reveal a dark stain across the boards. Cedric told him that this was the place where they laid the injured before they were operated on. The collected blood had stained the wood so much that it had never washed out. He also pointed to the corner of the room where he had taken his first rest in nearly 4 days, wrapped in the parachute).
[Image from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chateau_de_Guernon-Ranville]
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| Grave of Major R R Maitland, Ranville, Normandy |
During the time that the 225th Field Ambulance were in Ranvile, they were never further than 1000 yards from enemy troops. Casualties, both Allied and German, came in steady streams and were either patched up and sent back to their units, shipped back for return to England, or buried in temporary graves in Ranville. Cedric recalled the death of Major Maitland and his ‘batman’ Ronald Russell, both killed on the 7th June 1944 - now buried in Ranville. He said they were both killed at the same time as were pretty inseparable.
Cedric reports that once they linked up with the land forces, no serious casualties came through Ranville and they moved to a quarry East of the River Orne. The Engineers had built an operating theatre out of wood allowing them to treat serious injuries before sending them back to be evacuated.
Once the 225th had finished their work in Normandy, they made the journey to Trouville then Deauville and walked across wooden planks onto the Mulberry harbour out to the waiting ships.
Back in England the 225th were sent for more training at Bulford near Andover. They had to go for a run each morning at 6:30AM to keep them in shape then perform squad drills and P.T. They also spent time at Beacon Hill and Longford Castle.
During Operation Market Garden the 225th were on a months leave. However, on the morning of the first drop into Arnhem, they were called back to Bulford. During this period of waiting, a general order went around to British personnel to ensure they saluted American officers - as apparently, they hadn’t been doing so!
During the crossing of the Rhine, the 225th were dropped from Dakotas in the area of Wesel. Cedric said he met his first Russian troops there, a group of aircrew who were very pleased to meet them.
When asked if he remembered where he was on VE-Day, he replied, "Think I went canoeing on the lake nearby. Seem to recall I fell in!"
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| Cedric McCarthy. |
Happy Birthday, Cedric. From all of us at D-Day Stripes.
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