Source? Year this was taken? Location?
I hate to be that guy, but this post's title badly misrepresents what's going on in the picture. Luckily enough the truth is just as interesting: That plane did not fly in the D-Day invasion. It's a C-53 Dakota that was used exclusively for training which, after being restored, now sits outside of Colchester Garrison's Merville Barracks. None of the men on the left actually jumped on D-Day. The "new half" paras are veterans of the 16th (Staffords) Parachute Battalion, which was only formed in January 1945 and was never committed to action. The men on the right are not the same people (or even from the same regiment) as the men on left, and they weren't jumping on D-Day, either. The "old half" of the photo is of British 1 Div paras on their way to Arnhem, Holland for Operation Market Garden on 17 September 1944.I know that this narrative isn't quite as romantic, but there it is.
