January 1944, the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), of the 101st Airborne Division arrived in Lambourn. The Battalions consisted of the HQ & HQ Companies and three Companies.
In Lambourn, the 1st Btn. HQ & HQ Co. were at Windsor House and Stables, A Co. were at Lambourn House and Stables; B Co. were at Delamere House, Stables and several Nissen huts on either side. The C Co. were stationed in the grounds of Lambourn Place and some at Stork House and Stables.
In Upper Lambourn, the 3rd Btn. HQ & HQ Co. were at the Old Manor and Stables, G Co. were at Saxon Gate Stables; H Co. were at Saxon house Stables. It is believed that Ted Gwilt remained in the house during that time, although he may have had officers staying there.
For the record, the 2nd Battalion, along with Companies D,E and F, along with the Medical and Service Companies were based at Hamstead Marshall, near Enborne, Newbury.
The first photo of a soldier is of Ray Edgell, who survived the D-Day assault, but when the drop into The Netherlands took place in September 1944, he was killed in the battle at Eerde.
The second soldier is Willie E Culpepper, who survived the war, but who has since died some time ago.
Photo of the guard on duty at Delamere.
In 1994, the anniversary year of D-Day, several men came back to visit their billets around the area. Dick Arnold, with his wife Betty, standing outside what was his billet. (This area has now been demolished since this photo was taken)
The late Roger Curtis and his partner Dawn were always very kind to me, allowing me to bring visitors around.
In April 2011, David, the youngest son of Lester Birky, who was stationed at Delamere and later at Hamstead Marshall, came, with his family for a tour of the stables. They had previously been to Littlecote House for a presentation and to Hamstead Marshall Park.
When the 101st Airborne returned to the UK in the July of 1944, to recuperate and re-man, they all went back to Hamstead Marshall, and not to Lambourn. Whilst there, Lester Birky carved his name and a parachute on a beech tree, which, many years later was discovered and set-in motion a whole new story, hence the visit of the Birky family here in 2011.
On September 17th 1944, all the 101st Airborne took off again and did not return to the UK as a unit, but continued through Europe until the bitter end, with huge losses. The very lucky ones came back to visit Lambourn many years later.
Mick Dowdeswell
My dad was in the 501 Regiment, 3rd Platoon, “i” Company. I have 2 pictures of him, with fellow squad members, at the stables. Pictures are dated May of 1944.
My wife and I are planning a trip to Europe hopefully for next year, and seeing the stables are definitely on my bucket list.
Hi Walter, how nice to hear from you and thank you for contacting the website, we always love to hear these stories. Your Dad would have been billeted at Waltham House Stables in Upper Lambourn. I have yet to put photos and information about Waltham Stable on the website but I think this may well have prompted me to get that done. There are photos of some of the guys there and would be interesting seeing ones of your Dad, if you are happy to share them. Please contact me on lizbeard@hotmail.co.uk and perhaps I can share some more information with you.
Regards
Liz