Memories from Captain Richard Coakes

<p dir="ltr">Richard Coakes was a 26 year old school teacher, who enlisted in 1939. He joined the Royal Artillery as a 2nd Lieutenant. When the Parachute Regiment was formed in 1942, he transferred. He was involved in the D-Day landings and in the Ardennes, though like many of his generation, he was reluctant to talk about the war. By the end of the war, he was at the rank of Captain.</p><p>Cap badges are for the two regiments.</p><p>A pair of German binoculars from a chateau that was captured in France. </p><p>He kept the parachute and we played with it as children, making parachutes out of it and jumping off the garage roof.</p><p>His grandson remembers the parachute being used as a dust sheet.</p>