'Fly high, rest easy' tributes to youngest Arnhem glider pilot

TRIBUTES have been paid to the youngest airman to take part in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden, who has died aged 98.

-  James Podesta

Sergeant Frank Ashleigh was a 19-year-old glider pilot during the largest airborne assault in history in September 1944.

After dropping off a jeep and two trailers in the area of Renkum, next to Arnhem, Frank volunteered to go on a reconnaissance mission to make contact with the Germans.

The four glider pilots encountered enemy soldiers everywhere they looked on the road to Oosterbeek. They dived into a church, taking turns to shoot at the enemy from the window. Despite relentless bombardment, the men held firm for four days before the Germans made them surrender.

Frank "When Germans got to us, they said 'you have five minutes come down to and we will not throw grenades in'.