A TEENAGER'S WAR - The Harrowing World War II Story of a Young Parachute Soldier by Tucker, Ron

Staplehurst, 1994, Spellmount, UK first edition, hard bound in dj, 6 x 9, FINE/FINE CONDITION, 128 pages, illustrated.--------------------------16-year-old Ron Tucker joined the Gordons in 1942 by concealing his age. Responding to Churchill's appeal, he volunteered for the new Parachute Regiment.After training with the 6th Airborne Forces, he was dropped near the Merville emplacement overlooking Sword Beach on D-Day, 6th June 1944. In this first-hand account, we read of the hazardous descent, the struggle to reach the battery before dawn, and the fierce fighting around Caen.----------------------------------------Tucker was injured, but was soon back with the 9th Paras in the bitter cold of the Ardennes. Billeted in a monastery there, Tucker bought a silver cross. At his next drop, over the Rhine, the cross saved his life during a machine-gun attack.Recovering from a hand wound, Tucker determined to rejoin his regiment, and travelled through Germany as it collapsed into defeat.Promoted to Sergeant at 19, he married his childhood sweetheart, Dorothy.Ron Tucker was not just lucky. His gripping accounts of hand-to-hand fighting testify to his brilliance and bravery as a professional soldier.