† Peter Stainforth died on 13th December 2017, aged 96
Peter’s ashes were laid to rest under ‘The Arnhem Oak’* at the church of St. Mary and The Holy Rood, Donington, Lincs, on Sunday, 23rd September 2018, on the occasion of the annual 1st Para Squadron Reunion, 74 years after the Battle of Arnhem.
An article on the remembrance service, with a group photo,
appeared in the local paper, Spalding Today, 01 October 2018.
The start of the Battle of Arnhem, 17th September 1944
Lieutenant Peter Stainforth of the 1st Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers, fought in Algeria, Tunisia and Sicily, and finally at the Battle of Arnhem, where he was shot through the lung and taken prisoner (so becoming one of the lucky few who survived this notorious military débacle.)
Throughout the war Peter Stainforth had a sketchbook with him, and later made this remarkable pastel drawing of the First Parachute Brigade landing on Renkum Heath, near Arnhem, in the first wave of Operation Market Garden on 17th September 1944.
Other drawings and paintings
‘Flak and Silk’
Detail from Dad’s vivid picture of jumping in the night in Sicily in 1943. Click image for the full extraordinary original.
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Click for full size images
Peter Stainforth’s account of his war time experiences as a paratrooper: Wings of the Wind, 1954 (1985 edition)