British-made 'clicker' used by US D-Day heroes found in dusty attic

AN EXTREMELY rare British-made lifesaving device used by elite US paratroopers during the D-Day landings has been found in a dusty attic in Kansas.

- BY GILES SHELDRICK

Airborne soldiers being dropped over occupied France were each handed a small brass device used for covert communication to distinguish friend from foe.

They were known as cricket clickers.

A paratrooper would click once and a friendly soldier would respond with two clicks to confirm their identity without alerting enemy forces.

The clicker was originally made by Birmingham-based ACME Whistles as a timekeeping device for musicians.

But it was adapted for military use by the 101st Airborne Division for the invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

Among the heroes using them was Paul A Holler who served with the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment during Operation Overlord.

Eight decades after the largest military invasion in history the paratrooper's grandson Nathan found his clicker in his attic during a house clearance.

The modest Second World War warrior told his family he had been a truck driver in the US Army but the discovery of the clicker revealed he had served with a regiment that was an integral part of the "Screaming Eagles" 101st Airborne Division.

Nathan, 41, said: "It was not until we discovered the clicker that we found out he was in the 101st Airborne Division before D-Day and every other battle the 101st is famous for. My grandfather never told anyone his role in the war, so we were not aware he was a parachutist on D-Day until a long time after his death.