Annoyingly, I'm 3 days late of the anniversary with this one but better late than never.

Around 2011 I was contacted by a man in Ashby-De-La-Zouch in Leicestershire. I live about a 10 minute drive away, so you can imagine my surprise to hear him say in a midlands accent /1

"my dad was in the 82nd Airborne Division in WWII."

I arranged to visit him at the earliest opportunity. His Dad was S/Sgt Gerald Helms, of E Company, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment and his story, and that of Gerry (the son) is quite remarkable.

S/Sgt Helms was a veteran of /2

the campaign in Italy, and moved with his Regiment to Camp March-Hare at Scraptoft, Leicester in February 1944. Whilst in England, he met a lady called Molly Milner at the Pineapple pub, just of the A594 in Leicester. They hit it off, and formed a relationship that lasted /3

through his combat in Normandy and up to his departure for Operation Market Garden. On October 3rd 1944 S/Sgt Helms was part of a combat patrol near the village of Katerbosch, South of Groesbeek but did not return. His body has never been recovered.

He did not know it at the /4

time, but Molly was pregnant, and their son Gerry (named for S/Sgt Helms) was born in 1945.

At the age of around 5 or 6, Gerry learned for the first time that his step-dad was not his real Father, and when he was old enough to do the research himself, he began to search for /5

answers.

Though details of the combat patrol and its overall purpose were discovered, the circumstances of his disappearance were not known, even to other members of the patrol. It would appear he went out alone to reconnoiter a position, and simply did not return. /6

In 1945 Molly was in the Pineapple pub, where the two had met, when two members of the 82nd Airborne Division who were on furlough back in England, walked in. Desperate for information on Geralds whereabouts, she asked the two men if they knew him. Gerry believes these men /7

were Paratroopers, based on their response, and therefore were unlikely to have known him. They told his mother that they did indeed know him, and that he was killed in his Parachute during the jump in The Netherlands. They handed her the piece of camo parachute shown which /8

Molly kept for the rest of her life. In hindsight, Gerry believes the Paratroopers were acting with sympathy, and knowing that, by all likelihood Gerald had been KIA, provided Molly was some closure, even if it wasn't true.

When Gerry turned 18, Molly gave him some items /9

that Gerald had left with her after his combat in Normandy. They are photographed.

IIRC Gerry was not aware of who the people in the ring are.

At the time, Molly lived at 8 Gayton Avenue in Leicester, which is where Gerald spent most of his time with her when on leave or /10

furlough. Here is a picture of Molly outside the house, and what it looks like now.

I always felt a bit of sympathy for Gerry. I don't think he had a very good relationship with his Step-dad and always longed to know more about what had happened to his real dad. /11

The story of S/Sgt Gerald Helms is tragic, and he was one of many who disappeared never to be seen again. Through Gerry's tireless efforts to find out more, it's pretty clear he has not been forgotten.

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