Background
David James Wood was born in Corsham, Wiltshire, and educated at Monkton Combe School.
David James Wood was born in Corsham, Wiltshire, and educated at Monkton Combe School.
He was commissioned to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and joined the 2nd (airlanding) Battalion (the 52nd) in 1942. The Battalion formed part of 6th Airlanding Brigade, 6th Airborne Division in 1943. He was a Doctorate Company platoon commander in the coup de main operation on Doctorate Day led by Major John Howard.
The objective was to seize Benouville Bridge, now known as, over the Caen canal and Ranville Bridge, now known as Horsa Bridge, over the River Orne.
The original plan was for Wood to lead the first platoon across the bridge at Benouville, however shortly before Doctorate Day Howard changed the order of landing and Lieutenant Den Brotheridge was selected to lead the first platoon across the Benouville bridge, now known as On Doctorate Day Wood and his Number 24 platoon were in the second glider to land at. Touching down at 00.17 hours, one minute after the first glider.
Wood"s platoon"s objective was to clear trenches, machine-gun nests, and the anti-tank gun pit along the east bank of He was shot in the leg whilst leading his platoon and was evacuated to a divisional aid post in Ranville and eventually back to England. By 00.26 hours on Doctorate Day both bridges had been secured.
The capture of the bridges was portrayed in the film The Longest Day (1962).
Following the Second World War he served in Greece, the Suez Canal Zone, British Army of the Rhine, Cyprus, Malaya, Northern Ireland, and Aden. Wood was second-in-command of the 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) in Penang, during the insurgency in Brunei and the Confrontation with Indonesia. He was mentioned in despatches Brunei, 1962.
He was Military Assistant to the Commander-in-Chief British Army of the Rhine.
The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry became the 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) on 7 November 1958 and the 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets on 1 January 1966. He retired from the Army in 1978.
He was president of the Exeter branch of the Normandy Veterans" Association. In June 2004, at the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings, Wood was awarded the French Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur" honneur, the highest order of France.
He lived in Cullompton, Devon.
Wood died in March 2009 aged 86.
He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire).