Chisholme George - Overloon War Chronicles

Chisholme | George

First names
George
Age
26
Date of birth
12-04-1918
Date of death
21-09-1944
Service number
T/3710623
Rank
Lance Corporal
Regiment
Royal Army Service Corps, King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)
Grave number
IV. C. 8.

George-Chisholme

Grave George Chisholme

Author Arno van Dijk

Faces from the past

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Overloon, popularly known as the English cemetery, contains 281 graves. Each with its own story. In this report series, the Overloon War Chronicles Foundation highlights such a special story every time. This time grave numbers 8, 9 and 10 in section IV, row C.

George Chisholme (1918 – 1944)
Roy Abbott (1922 – 1944)
Lionel Abbott (1925 – 1944)
Crash among the pines

“Why haven’t you jumped!?”
“Can’t, sir. All wounded in the legs.”

(Source: Testimony by Flight Lieutenant Jimmy Edwards)

The silence in this forest is deafening. Ominous. How long have they been lying here in this ditch under the trees? 10 minutes? A quarter of an hour? And that man, will he come back? Can he be trusted? It’s getting darker. How long do they have to stay here in the middle of this enemy territory, in this forest?

Here we tell the story of George Chisholme.

Auteur

Biography

George Chisholme is born on Friday 12 April 1918 in Primrose Hill, Lancaster. He is the youngest son in the large family of James and Margaret Chisholme. George attends the Greaves Central School and later enlists in the King’s Own Royal Regiment, the same regiment his father served in. George’s father is a veteran who fought in India and the Boer War in South Africa. During the First World War, James Chisholme was part of the Territorial Force. He went to war with the 5th King’s Own, but got disabled at the war front in France.

In 1939 George is called up to go to France with the King’s Own. George then serves in France and Belgium, but due to the German advance, the British army has to withdraw to the beaches of Dunkirk at the end of May 1940 and is almost driven into the sea. In a perilous evacuation involving hundreds of boats and ships, the men return to England.After that, George makes the transfer to the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC). In the British army, the RASC is responsible for, among other things, transport means, technical materials and equipment, for the supply of food and water, the supply of fuel, clothing and uniforms, up to office supplies. George enlists as volunteer for the Airborne Forces section. He is promoted to Lance Corporal and successfully completes his Air Despatcher training before being stationed with the 223 Air Despatch Company of the Royal Army Service Corps in October 1943.

In the Corps both Roy and Lionel, not related to each other, enlist as volunteers for the Airborne Forces section. Like Chisholme, they successfully complete their Air Despatcher training and are also stationed with the 223 Air Despatch Company. Meanwhile, Roy and Lionel have become good friends, they visit each other regularly and Roy is also considered a friend of the family by Lionel’s family.

The task of this recently established Air Despatch Company is to continuously supply the British armed forces at the war front with new supplies. These supplies are dropped by the despatchers from aircrafts of the Royal Air Force, division Transport Command, in containers on parachutes above and behind their own lines. A good dispatch crew can drop 16 containers in 12 seconds. But it is also demanding and dangerous work. Because more than once, self-despatching occurs when a despatcher gets entangled in the cables and falls down when pushing the load out.

In September 1944, George, Roy and Lionel are ordered to work on behalf of Air Despatch Company for 271 Squadron, 46 Group at Down Ampney base in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

You can read how it continues in the full version of “Faces from the Past” below.

Sources and credits

See the extended list in the full version.