Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Corporal G. W. Keightley, 8th (Midland Counties) Battalion, Parachute Regiment, late Lincolnshire Regiment, who dropped into Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and was presumed killed in action one week later, in somewhat vivid circumstances

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (4801292 Pte. G. W. Keightley. Linc. R.) surname partially officially corrected; 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, nearly extremely fine (5) £300-£400

George William Keightley was born in Middlesex in 1916, the son of Regimental Sergeant Major F. C. Keightley, M.C., R.V.M., Lincolnshire Regiment. He grew up in India, where his father was stationed, and eventually followed him into the regiment himself. He served with “D” Company, 2nd Battalion, in Palestine from July to December 1936, and by the outbreak of the Second World War was back in India, serving with the 1st Battalion. He served during the Second World War initially with the Lincolnshire Regiment, before transferring to the 8th Battalion, Parachute Regiment.

8th Parachute Battalion was formed in early 1943, taking as its nucleus the 13th Battalion, Warwickshire Regiment; its strength was completed with volunteers drawn from other Midlands regiments to retain the regional characteristic. During the Normandy operations it was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Alastair Pearson, D.S.O., M.C., one of the outstanding leaders in Airborne forces.
During the Normandy Landings the Battalion found itself tasked with perhaps the most independent role of any of the units of the 6th Airborne Division. From their own drop zone, three miles to the south of the main force at Ranville, they were first to protect the Royal Engineers of 3rd Parachute Squadron in their work of demolishing road and railway bridges at Bures and Troarn, to hamper any attempted enemy incursions into the left flank of the bridgehead. With the bridges destroyed, their task was next to establish themselves in the nearby Bois de Bavent woodland and from there do all in their power to harass enemy troops in the area, especially those advancing westwards to attack the seaborne landings.
Despite many of the Battalion’s Dakota aircraft dropping their troops on the wrong drop zone, the 150 or so officers and men that did arrive in the correct area nevertheless managed to successfully achieve their initial objectives, and establish positions in the Bois de Bavent from which to wage their private war of fighting patrols, ambushes and raids on enemy positions over the following days.

It was in the course of this activity that Corporal Keightley was posted missing, presumed killed, on 13 June. An indication of the unusual circumstances of his death is contained in the personal account of Lieutenant Richard Fry, “A” Company, 8th Battalion, held in the archives of the Airborne Forces Museum:
‘D+6 [12 June] began with another piece of very nasty news. Three men had been posted look out during the night across the road in Company HQ, at the corner of the company position. They had occupied a prepared trench in a clearing just inside of the wood. The next morning they were found with their throats cut. The enemy were capable of getting very close, very quietly!
D+7 [13 June] was another relatively restful day for No 3 Platoon, with time to write a letter home, have a bath in a nearby pond, a chance to visit friends in neighbouring companies. It was from a friend in another company that we learned that a corporal had decided to take grim revenge for the loss of his friend whose throat had been cut. He had returned to his slit trench before first light with one enemy scalp. On the next two mornings the corporal had repeated his self imposed task successfully, but after the evening meal of D+9 he was not seen again.’

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Roll of Honour list six fatal casualties in 8th Battalion in the period between D-Day and the unit’s next major engagement, on 16 June 1944. Of these, the only Corporal was Keightley, and despite the slight discrepancy in the date of his death (which may be due to the fact that Fry was hearing of this second-hand), it is probable that he was the unidentified scalp-hunter referred to in the above account. date of death fits the details in the account above. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Bayeux Memorial, and on the parish war memorial of Wymondham, Norfolk.