An exceptional Arnhem D.C.M. awarded to Sergeant R. F. Tilley, Army Air Corps, attached King’s Own Scottish Borderers as Regimental Sergeant-Major
Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.VI.R. (552600 Sjt., A.A.C.) suspension claw rivet replaced, otherwise very fine and very rare

D.C.M. London Gazette 9 November, 1944: Sgt. Russell Frederick Tilley, 2 Wing Div. Airborne Corps, Glider Pilot Regiment. ‘During the operations near Arnhem, this N.C.O. was attached to the K.O.S.B. and distinguished himself throughout by his personal gallantry, initiative and unflagging cheerfulness under the most trying conditions. On 20th September, when the Medical Officer and part of his staff were captured, Sgt. Tilley attached himself to the R.A.P. where he did sterling work in attending to the comforts and well-being of the wounded, many of whom he himself brought in under fire. When the R.A.P. was hit and set on fire, he saved several lives by his coolness in organising the evacuation of the wounded. Later when the Medical Staff had been reinforced and when casualties had decimated Battalion H.Q., he voluntarily assumed the duties of R.S.M. In this capacity he maintained the supply of ammunition, making numerous journeys to forward positions to do so. When rations ran out he organised a central kitchen from which he produced, out of the products of the country, a hot meal for every man daily. In addition to these activities, he volunteered whenever there was dangerous work to be done, and was constantly on anti-sniper patrols in and about the Bn. area. On one of these, on 23rd September, he discovered an enemy post, on which he immediately organised an attack, as a result of which six enemy were captured and many killed. This N.C.O.’s enthusiasm, complete disregard for personal safety and confident bearing, had the most marked effect on all ranks of the Bn. and his conduct throughout the battle was in accordance with the highest traditions of the British Army.’

During Operation Market Garden Regimental-Sergeant-Major Tilley of the Glider Pilot Regiment attached himself to the 7th Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers, a pre-war Territorial unit, fighting its first and last action of the war. On D-Day (17 September, 1944) the 7th K.O.S.B., part of Brigadier P.H.W. Hick’s 1st Airlanding Brigade, moved out from their own L.Z. away from Arnhem to secure D.Z.-Y for Hackett’s 4th Parachute Brigade which was due to arrive with the second lift next day. Having executed this duty and having suffered a number of casualties at the hands of S.S. Wach Battalion 3, 7th K.O.S.B., under Lieutenant-Colonel R. Payton-Reid, carried out their next task of holding some high ground near Johannahoeve Farm, dominating L.Z.-L, into which gliders carrying Polish anti-tank guns and ancillary units of the 4th Paracute Brigade flew on Tuesday morning. As German resistance stiffened east of Arnhem that day, the last opportunity for greater numbers of the 1st Airborne Division to fight their way into the town and reinforce the small garrison holding the Arnhem road bridge over the Rhine was lost. Later that same day Tilley found himself in the rapidly forming Oosterbeek perimeter. 7th K.O.S.B., now at one third of its original strength, occupied several buildings centered around a hotel called the Dreyeroord, in what would become the north-east corner of the defence area. The Dreyeroord or ‘White House’ stood back from the railway crossing, the only access from the north for German tanks, against which they were frequently engaged.
From Wednesday, 20 September, whence the enemy seemed to be everywhere, to the end of the operation on Monday night, Tilley was acknowledged by Payton-Reid as ‘one of our most active members’. After taking over the duties of the battalion’s wounded R.S.M., he accompanied the C.O. nearly everywhere. Major General R.E. Urquhart, the commander of the 1st Airborne Division, relates: ‘Payton-Reid’s experiences were typical of those of many others in the division. More than once as he inspected his positions, he came across Germans instead of his own men. With Sergeant Tilley, a glider pilot who appointed himself Payton-Reid’s bodyguard, he had just visited one group of men who were rather vague about the location of their neighbours. Payton-Reid and Tilley went round a corner and came on a small building. The sergeant suggested that he should take a look first. He soon came bounding back. “The trench round there is full of Germans,” he said. “Did they see you?” “If they didn’t they must be blind.” “We’d better get out of it,” said Payton Reid. They vaulted through the window of a nearby house, but the floor had been blown out and they fell right through to the cellar. Payton-Reid gave the sergeant a leg up so that he could grasp the edge of the hole. Any moment they expected to see Germans looking down at them. Somehow, Tilley pulled himself clear and then hauled his commander, a stocky, heavily-built officer, to the security of the ground floor.’
As the seige continued, even the irrepressible Tilley began to suffer from the overwhelming exhaustion felt by almost every man in the division: ‘That evening at a battalion conference of the K.O.S.B., Payton-Reid was talking to his second-in-command, Captain Walker of the Royal Artillery. There was one other officer present and Sergeant Tilley of the Glider Pilot Regiment ... As Payton-Reid spoke, he noticed without surprise that Captain Walker had gone to sleep. Soon the other officers dropped off and then Sergeant Tilley’s head dropped to the dusty table.’ Payton-Reid later recorded in his diary that they had had an average of two or three hours sleep in twenty-four. Ultimately, when Payton-Reid and all the other officers had either been killed, captured or wounded, Tilley took command of the battalion, and presumably ensured Payton-Reid’s safe evacuation to the south side of the Rhine on the night of Monday the 25th. Payton-Reid, it might be added, was the only battalion commander in the division to reach the south side of the river, and only 76 K.O.S.B. came with him; 112 died during Market Garden and 577 were posted missing.