Colonel John Tillett

Colonel John Maurice Arthur Tillett (4 November 1919 - 14 December 2014) was a British Army officer who had a critical role in the planning of Operation Deadstick on D-Day, 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. He was one of the last surviving British Army officers to have served with 6th Airborne Division in Operation Mallard on 6 June 1944 and in Operation Varsity on 24 March 1945. He later commanded the Ugandan Army.

Tillett was born in Ipswich, Suffolk. His father Major AR Tillett served with the Suffolk Hussars. He was educated at Ipswich Grammar School and went to Germany on a school hockey tour in 1936, there he encountered the Hitler Youth organisation which made him an honorary member. In Germany, he saw army manoeuvres in the Harz mountains which convinced him that war was approaching and he enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment (TA) in 1937. Tillett was commissioned into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in August 1940 and was posted to the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (The 52nd).

He became Adjutant of the 2nd Ox and Bucks (the 52nd) early in 1944 and was closely involved in the planning of the coup de main operation, led by Major John Howard, Company Commander of D Company, 2nd Ox and Bucks, to capture two vital bridges: Pegasus Bridge and Horsa Bridge in the opening minutes of D-Day. On 6 June 1944, Tillett's glider, piloted by glider pilots from the Glider Pilot Regiment, landed, near Ranville, Normandy, at approximately 21.00hrs, along with the rest of 2nd Ox and Bucks, 6th Airlanding Brigade, as part of Operation Mallard. After holding the line on the Breville ridge and sustaining many casualties, Tillett and the 2nd Ox and Bucks in August 1944 took part in the British breakout and advance to the Seine, known as Operation Paddle. The battalion returned to Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, in early September 1944.

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