VETERAN Sam Langford choked back tears as he read out the name of a fallen comrade to a small audience.

Had Corporal John Tapping not swapped seats with him in a glider over Germany, he wouldn’t be here today.

At 92, Mr Langford is now a husband, father-of-two and grandfather of four, and he has never forgotten the sacrifice his friend had made.

Cpl Tapping was one of five fallen comrades whose names Mr Langford, of Didcot, read out at Christ Church Cathedral’s Turning the Pages ceremony on Saturday.

Born in Wantage, Mr Langford originally signed up with the 5th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment in 1941.

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He stormed Juno Beach with them on D-Day before transferring to the The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (OBLI).

In the early hours of March 24, 1945, they were part of the Sixth Airborne Division who set off in hundreds of gliders from an Essex airfield bound for occupied Germany.

He remembered: “Before we took off, we were told ‘don’t worry about the German anti-aircraft fire, the RAF will take care of that’.

“But when we got over the Rhine the firing was intense, it accounted for most of ourcasualties before they got onto the ground.”

Operation Varsity was designed to be the final glider assault of the war, before a ground advance into Germany.

Some 540 aircraft towing more than 1,300 gliders flew into German fire over Wesel.

Private Langford, aged 23, was given a Bren light machine gun. Sat next to him was Corporal John Tapping, who he had met in training.

The corporal said to him: “You won’t be able to open the door holding that gun”, so they swapped seats. He was killed minutes later after they came under attack.

As he told the story on Saturday, holding a tiny black and white photograph of Cpl Tapping, Mr Langford said: “That’s why I’m here today.

“If he hadn’t changed seats with me I wouldn’t have had my life.

“I have had 70 years of good life. I have a wife, two daughters, grandchildren.

“A lot of people say it’s just one of those things but I don’t think it is. It all boils down to the fact if we hadn’t changed seats I would be lying in that cemetery where he is.”

Not long after Operation Varsity, Pte Langford was sent home with a shrapnel wound. He went on to serve in Thames Valley Police for 28 years.

Cpl Tapping is buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, along with dozens of others.

A total of 100 soldiers from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry were killed on March 24, 1945, and another 300 wounded.

NAMES OF THE FALLEN REMEMBERED

The Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars
First World War 1914 - 1918

  • Ernest Earp Tompkins
  • Gerald Joseph Tompkins, Military Medal
  • John Thomas Tompkins
  • George Tustin
  • Arthur Tutty

Second World War 1939 - 1945

  • Robert Bruce Bland
  • Ronald Lewis Busby
  • Donald Henry Caldwell
  • Ernest John Claydon
  • Edward Cleall


The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
First World War 1914 - 1918

  • Albert Margetts
  • Henry Edward Shilcock
  • James Aldridge
  • Walter Davies
  • William Arthur Hands

Second World War 1939 - 1945

  • Abraham George Algar
  • Frank Stuart Gardner
  • John Lewis King
  • John French Tapping
  • Jack Cecil Wilfred Trafford