Hi Guys, the last 24 hours has been a very sad time for me. A good friend of mine and a WW2 Parachute Regiment veteran passed away yesterday afternoon. An old comrade was at his side when he died.
I would like to pay tribute to my friend here.
His name was Mike Compton. Some of you might recognise Mike from some of the threads that I have written on the forum in the past few years? One or two of the British members here have actually met Mike, as he visited Beltring a couple of years ago with me.
Mike was a very interesting man. He was of German Jewish background and was born in Hamburg. He came to Britain before the war with his parents. He volunteered for service and was eventually allowed to join the Pioneer Corps. During this time he said the main work they did was putting up steel "Nissen huts" in various army camps. Even though Mike enjoyed the work, he wanted to fight. It was here he joined the Parachute Regt. Having done the training and won his wings, Mike was recruited into the XXI Independant Parachute Company. His skills as a German speaker were thought to be an asset to the Coy who served as "Pathfinders" for the 1st A/B Division.
"Compton" was not Mike original surname. I will not print his name here, but I can tell you an amusing story on how Mike chose his new name. He was advised to change his name by his new CO. Mike did not know what name to pick? So his CO threw a newspaper over to him and said pick an English sounding name from there. Mike was a keen cricket fan and seeing an article on Dennis Compton (A very famous cricketer of the time) he picked that name. Mike was a lifelong criket fan.
Mike saw service in North Africa, arriving there in preperation for the attack on Italy. Mike took part in the fighting there in 1943. When the XXI were withdrawn back to the UK, one platoon were kept back to serve as Pathfinders for future planned OP's in the Med. This platoon became the "1st Indep. Parachute Platoon". Throughout late 1943 and the summer of 1944 they taught Pathfinder techniques to the US forces. Mike's platoon were granted the honour of being allowed to wear the US Pathfinders badge on their uniforms.
In August 1944 Mike dropped in the South of France for OP Dragoon. After 2 weeks the platoon were withdrawn in oder to be ready for another OP. In October 1944 they moved to Greece and saw action there. This was street fighting and was a hard fight.
At the end of the war in Europe Mike promoted to Sgt and was attached to a unit which was investigating war crimes. Mike's German language skills were in demand. Mike said this was interesting work.
I first met Mike six years ago. He made us feel very welcome when we first attended the XXI's reunion. Mike lost his wife to cancer and missed her very much. He filled much of his time with travel which he loved. He was a keen photogragher all his life. He very kindly loaned me all his wartime photos to copy. Mike was always a very generous man. You could never buy a drink if he was around. Once I tried but he made the barmaid take my money out of the till, he told her it was "Northern money and no good down South!"
In 2002 we sat talking at the reunion and Mike was a little sad that we were all talking about Arnhem and the South of France campaign never really got a mention. So we decided this ought to change. We planned a trip for the following spring and Mike flew over to France for the weekend just to show us where he fought! It was in 2003 that he visited Beltring with me for a day. I was a little concerned about what he would make of German re-enactors. I need not have worried! He loved the show. He was made very welcome. He was a bit dissappointed that many "Germans" could not speak back to him in German. He said "well I never though I would be sitting in an FJ encampment". He enjoyed it so much that he came back the following day with his Son.
Mike was keen for us to attend the Liberation commemorations in the August of that year in the South of France. Lez and I said we would try and make it, finances permitting. Mike then offered to pay for us to go! No way I said, we will go (that is what credit cards are for). We did go and had a fantastic time.
Later in September Mike attended the Arnhem commemorations in order to see where many of his comardes fought. He also made it to Arnhem in 2004 and 2005.
One weekend Lez and I went down to see Mike in his home. I once asked Mike about souvenirs? Did he take any etc? To be honest I did not think he was the "type". Oh yes he said, I had a whole kit bag of German items that I took in Italy! He then disappeared upstairs and came back with a Police bayonet, an SA and a KM dagger. At the time in the media there was a lot of trouble with people carrying knives, Mike mistakenly thought these were now illegal to own. I urged him to put them out on display in his study with other items that he on display, like his wings etc. I also made sure he knew what they were worth. When we left later that afternoon he insisted that I take the KM dagger with me.
Mike's Denison smock and beret can be seen in the Liberation Museum in Le Muy. The mannequin is in the same pose as Mike in the wartime photo see below.
We attended the 60th Anniversary Liberation celebrations last year in the South of France. It was then Mike was honoured with the Legion of Honour by the French Govt.
So please raise a glass with me and say "RIP Mike". I was proud to be your friend.
Cheers, Ade.
I would like to pay tribute to my friend here.
His name was Mike Compton. Some of you might recognise Mike from some of the threads that I have written on the forum in the past few years? One or two of the British members here have actually met Mike, as he visited Beltring a couple of years ago with me.
Mike was a very interesting man. He was of German Jewish background and was born in Hamburg. He came to Britain before the war with his parents. He volunteered for service and was eventually allowed to join the Pioneer Corps. During this time he said the main work they did was putting up steel "Nissen huts" in various army camps. Even though Mike enjoyed the work, he wanted to fight. It was here he joined the Parachute Regt. Having done the training and won his wings, Mike was recruited into the XXI Independant Parachute Company. His skills as a German speaker were thought to be an asset to the Coy who served as "Pathfinders" for the 1st A/B Division.
"Compton" was not Mike original surname. I will not print his name here, but I can tell you an amusing story on how Mike chose his new name. He was advised to change his name by his new CO. Mike did not know what name to pick? So his CO threw a newspaper over to him and said pick an English sounding name from there. Mike was a keen cricket fan and seeing an article on Dennis Compton (A very famous cricketer of the time) he picked that name. Mike was a lifelong criket fan.
Mike saw service in North Africa, arriving there in preperation for the attack on Italy. Mike took part in the fighting there in 1943. When the XXI were withdrawn back to the UK, one platoon were kept back to serve as Pathfinders for future planned OP's in the Med. This platoon became the "1st Indep. Parachute Platoon". Throughout late 1943 and the summer of 1944 they taught Pathfinder techniques to the US forces. Mike's platoon were granted the honour of being allowed to wear the US Pathfinders badge on their uniforms.
In August 1944 Mike dropped in the South of France for OP Dragoon. After 2 weeks the platoon were withdrawn in oder to be ready for another OP. In October 1944 they moved to Greece and saw action there. This was street fighting and was a hard fight.
At the end of the war in Europe Mike promoted to Sgt and was attached to a unit which was investigating war crimes. Mike's German language skills were in demand. Mike said this was interesting work.
I first met Mike six years ago. He made us feel very welcome when we first attended the XXI's reunion. Mike lost his wife to cancer and missed her very much. He filled much of his time with travel which he loved. He was a keen photogragher all his life. He very kindly loaned me all his wartime photos to copy. Mike was always a very generous man. You could never buy a drink if he was around. Once I tried but he made the barmaid take my money out of the till, he told her it was "Northern money and no good down South!"
In 2002 we sat talking at the reunion and Mike was a little sad that we were all talking about Arnhem and the South of France campaign never really got a mention. So we decided this ought to change. We planned a trip for the following spring and Mike flew over to France for the weekend just to show us where he fought! It was in 2003 that he visited Beltring with me for a day. I was a little concerned about what he would make of German re-enactors. I need not have worried! He loved the show. He was made very welcome. He was a bit dissappointed that many "Germans" could not speak back to him in German. He said "well I never though I would be sitting in an FJ encampment". He enjoyed it so much that he came back the following day with his Son.
Mike was keen for us to attend the Liberation commemorations in the August of that year in the South of France. Lez and I said we would try and make it, finances permitting. Mike then offered to pay for us to go! No way I said, we will go (that is what credit cards are for). We did go and had a fantastic time.
Later in September Mike attended the Arnhem commemorations in order to see where many of his comardes fought. He also made it to Arnhem in 2004 and 2005.
One weekend Lez and I went down to see Mike in his home. I once asked Mike about souvenirs? Did he take any etc? To be honest I did not think he was the "type". Oh yes he said, I had a whole kit bag of German items that I took in Italy! He then disappeared upstairs and came back with a Police bayonet, an SA and a KM dagger. At the time in the media there was a lot of trouble with people carrying knives, Mike mistakenly thought these were now illegal to own. I urged him to put them out on display in his study with other items that he on display, like his wings etc. I also made sure he knew what they were worth. When we left later that afternoon he insisted that I take the KM dagger with me.
Mike's Denison smock and beret can be seen in the Liberation Museum in Le Muy. The mannequin is in the same pose as Mike in the wartime photo see below.
We attended the 60th Anniversary Liberation celebrations last year in the South of France. It was then Mike was honoured with the Legion of Honour by the French Govt.
So please raise a glass with me and say "RIP Mike". I was proud to be your friend.
Cheers, Ade.
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