Last British glider pilot of Second World War dies at 98

The last surviving glider pilot of the Second World War has died at the age of 98.

Sgt. Frank Ashleigh was born in Stepney on 23 December 1924, the son of Isaac Greenbaum a tailor from Russia, and Annie, both of whom were Jewish immigrants. In 1942, at the age of 18 he joined the British army.

Two years later Frank would become a glider pilot after passing the aptitude tests. He was then sent to Fargo camp, Salisbury Plain, which Frank describes as “six weeks of hell on earth.”

After just 10 hours of flying experience, Frank was posted to Stoke Orchard in Gloucestershire where he recalled seeing a Jewish Chaplain and was given the usual small Jewish soldier’s prayer book and “Book of Jewish Thoughts.”

It was here that Frank began training on the small Hotspur gliders, which had two pilots in tandem and carried about eight passengers. On 6 June, Frank and his comrades were listening to the radio as they heard gunnery instructions from Allied ships being given for the landing beaches in Normandy.

After qualifying to fly the Horsa heavy glider, Frank was promoted to Sergeant and was presented with his wings; the Army Flying Badge.

He was then dispatched to Oosterbeek, where he was forced to hide in a church after encountering armed SS Troops of the Hermann Goering Division.

After days of fighting, Nazi soldiers eventually caught Frank and his comrades in the church, taking them as prisoners of war, sending them to a camp near Opole in modern day Poland.

In January 1945, the POW’s were made to carry out one of the notorious Forced Marches in freezing conditions, over the Oder, to escape the approaching Soviets.

There were about 800-1000 men on Frank’s march, moving from camp to camp. Frank later recalled seeing many who died of exhaustion and  hypothermia on the road side.

Frank and his comrades were finally freed by Soviet soldiers, whom he described as “saving angels”, in April 1945 in a POW camp near Berlin.