Michael Stuart Page
Many people have helped me with this profile. Taking Michael's life chronologically, thanks to Kirsty Farrow at St Thomas's Church, Southborough; to Sarah Earl of Hilden Oaks Preparatory School and Nursery; to Marlborough College but especially Grainne Lenehan; and to Tonbridge School, especially Beverley Matthews. Thanks for permission to use photos to Mark Hickman of the Pegasus Archive ( click here ) and to Paul Pariso, a contributor to the WW2 Talk forum. Above all thanks to Susan Barker, Michael's surviving daughter for the information she supplied. Michael Stuart Page died on 20th September 1944 on the fourth day of the nine-day Battle of Arnhem. He was an officer in the British Army, specifically Major in charge of the HQ Company of 156 Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. Not that, by that stage of the battle, there was a company or even a battalion left to be in command of. To capture a bridge over the Rhine, the 1st Airborne Division had landed by parachute