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Private Alf Whitbread - Signed Military Art


Cranston Fine Arts Military Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures British Veterans Surnames S to Z Whitbread, Alf

[UP] - Sankey, Frank - Seekings, Reg - Sherbrook, Tom - Spittles, Reg - Stafford, Patrick - Stanier, Sir Alex - Sutherland, Sandy - Thomas, Sandy - Tout, Ken - Waddy, John - Wake, Nancy - Walker, Don - Watson, Stan - Weedon, Bob - Welch, Nicholas - Weldon, F W C - Whitbread, Alf - Wilding, Richard - Williams, Ray - Wilson, Eric - Wood, David J - Wooldridge, Roylance


Private Alf Whitbread

Alf Whitbread, known in the war as 'Lucky Jim' was born in Twickenham, London and when his father got a job in the Building Research Station in Garston the family moved to Watford. Alf Whitbread left school to become a machine engineer, but was encouraged to volunteer for the army after hearing a patriotic speech on the radio. On June 19th, 1940, Alf Whitbread went to the Edgeware recruiting office and joined the Royal West Kent Youth Battalion at the age of 18 and in 1942 in Ireland, Alf heard rumours about a newly formed airborne unit and volunteered. Alf said : 'We thought we were going to be in the paratroopers, who were mad, but we finished up in the gliders and the paratroopers thought we were mad.' Alf Served with 17 Platoon of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He landed as part of the Coup de Main operation on Glider No.6 into Pegasus bridge in the early hours of D-Day. Alf was part of the second group of gliders which landed first at Horsa Bridge, before taking part in the battle for Pegasus Bridge, (the subject of the film 'The Longest Day'.) They sent the message 'ham and jam', a code confirming they had captured both bridges. The men held off many counter attacks by German troops and tanks until midday on June 6th. Alf would later say 'Two of our gliders were sent to secure Horsa bridge and frankly, it was a walk over. Our platoon never lost a man. We secured the bridge and then, when another platoon relieved us, we went and joined John Howard on Pegasus Bridge.' Alf Whitbread was later to take part in Operation Varsity, the last major battle of the war in Europe. On March 24th 1945 Operation Varsity was launched. The aim was to take a bridge over the Rhine again by gliderborne troops. Almost 1,500 men of the Ox and Bucks died during the operation, and Lucky Jim lived up to his reputation before his glider even landed. Alf would say: 'They say dont volunteer for anything, but I did and it worked out to my benefit. I remember when we were set to get on a glider on the way for the Rhine crossing and it was too full. I was detailed to another glider. They both crash landed. All the troops in the first glider were killed. Only three of us got out of the other glider alive, after it broke in half.' After the war Alf Whitbread joined London Transport as an engineer for 40 years and in all that time Alf never took a day off due to illness. With great sadness we have been told that Alf has passed away peacefully on 19th March 2011 at the age of 88. Cranston Fine Arts feel very honoured to have had Alf sign some of our art prints.


Out of the Night - The First To Go In by Robert Taylor.


Out of the Night - The First To Go In by Robert Taylor.
2 of 3 editions available.
All 3 editions feature up to 10 additional signatures.
£95.00 - £135.00

Operation Mallard by Ivan Berryman.


Operation Mallard by Ivan Berryman.
12 of 13 editions available.
All 6 editions featuring up to 2 additional signatures are available.
£2.90 - £500.00

The Longest Day Begins - Pegasus Bridge by Geoff Lea


The Longest Day Begins - Pegasus Bridge by Geoff Lea
3 of 4 editions available.
2 of 3 editions featuring up to 2 additional signatures are available.
£110.00 - £150.00


Liberation - Sainte Mere Eglise by Richard Taylor.

Liberation - Sainte Mere Eglise by Richard Taylor.
One of 5 editions available.
All 5 editions feature up to 11 additional signatures.
£180.00



Text for the above items :

Out of the Night - The First To Go In by Robert Taylor.

Silently out of the night they came. With flaps deployed, three timber and plywood Horsa gliders swept swiftly down through the night skies, rapidly closing with their objective - Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal. On board, with tension etched deep into their blackened faces, men from the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, part of the British 6th Airborne Division, braced themselves for landing. They, and sappers from the Royal Engineers, were about to become the first fighting force to land in France on D-Day. They were about to make history.


Operation Mallard by Ivan Berryman.

Halifax Tugs Towing Hamilcar Gliders. Halifax glider tugs of 644 Squadron based at Tarrant Rushton head out across the English Channel with their Hamilcar gliders as part of Operation Overlord in June 1944. The mighty Hamilcar was capable of carrying an 8-ton payload, which was the equivalent of two Tetrarch light tanks, and was used both in the Normandy invasion and at Arnhem.


The Longest Day Begins - Pegasus Bridge by Geoff Lea

Features the successful Horsa glider borne assault on the Caen Canal bridge at Benouville in Normandy at approx. 00.15hrs on D-Day, the 6th June 1944. Troops from the second battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry led by Major John Howard took the bridge which later became known as Pegasus Bridge.


Liberation - Sainte Mere Eglise by Richard Taylor.

For nearly four years, the swastika had flown belligerently over the small town of Sainte Mere Eglise in Normandy. Suddenly, shortly after midnight on the night of 5/6th June 1944, parachutists from the 82nd Airborne Division began landing in and around the town. By 04.30, after a tough fire fight, troopers from the 505th PIR had raised another flag over the town - the Stars and Stripes - and Sainte Mere Eglise had become the first town in Normandy to be liberated by the Allies on D-Day. Sherman tanks landing on nearby Utah beach with the US VII Corps were soon passing through the newly liberated town on the way to the front.



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