"William Maurice E Anderson" MD,DSO, joined the British 6th Airborne Division in 1943, and became Commanding Officer/CO of the 195th (Airlanding) Field Ambulance. (1)(4)

On D-Day he arrived at Ranville, France by glider and was wounded by sniper fire two days later at Longueval (2). He recovered (unlike the sniper, who was killed by a Royal Ulster Rifles/Royal Ulster Rifleman) and subsequently participated in the Ardennes offensive (the Battle of the Bulge) and Rhine crossings (Operation Varsity). In the latter operation his unit saw around 400 casualties during the 30 hours after landing. In 1945 he was part of the force that liberated Belsen and shook hands with the Russians on the banks of the River Elbe (3). He was then invited to form the No2 Medical Commando with a view to fighting the Japanese, but this was cancelled by the subsequent bombing and surrender of Japan.

He died 13 December 1986 aged 78, succeeded by one son - Lieutenant-Colonel (Retd) William Robert George ("Robin") Anderson.

Lieutenant-Colonel W.M.E. Anderson (63162) D.S.O. Citation:

More Maurice Anderson on Wikipedia.

My biggest concern is coming out of my home every day and thinking there are thousands of dead bodies. It's like a bad video game.

202

I would steal anything I could so we could survive.

117

I keep thinking, what if my family members were over there?

61