219151 Pte. Joseph Westby British Army 7th Battalion Parachute Regiment C Coy Durham Light Infantry from:Nottingham My dad, Joseph Westby wanted to be a soldier after seeing his uncle Joe in uniform - he had served in India. As he was too young to join up my Dad joined the Home Guard.
When he was old enough he joined up with the Durham Light Infantry. He was sent to Sleaford, Lincolnshire where he did his sixteen weeks initial training. He was one of a group of six men who volunteered to join the Parachute Regiment. He was sent to Derbyshire for parachute training and on completion was posted to Bulford barracks in Wiltshire. His company was dropped into Normandy in the early hours of June 5th. Their objective was to secure the River Orne and the canal and to take out the enemy gun battery at Morville.
He returned to England in September 1944. In December 1944 he was married. In March 1945 he was hospitalised in Belgium having sustained a broken leg. He was demobbed in 1946 and returned to Nottingham, where he still lives.
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