Tom Hughes, paratrooper who served at the Battle of the Bulge – obituary
He helped Belgian villagers to recover the bodies of young men shot in reprisal by the SS and later worked for The Daily Telegraph
Tom Hughes
Tom Hughes, who has died aged 96, saw action with the 9th Parachute Battalion (9 Para) in the Battle of the Bulge and the forced crossing of the Rhine.
On Christmas Eve 1944 Hughes and his comrades in 9 Para were looking forward to their Christmas dinner the following day. Instead, he found himself sleeping on the deck of an old Isle of Man ferry bound for Calais and then travelling by lorry to Belgium.