Richard Geoffrey Pine - Coffin Colonel Richard Geoffrey Pine - Coffin DSO & Bar , MC ( 2 December 1908 – 28 February 1974 ) was a parachute officer of the British Army during World War II . He commanded the 3rd Parachute Battalion in North Africa and the 7th ( Light Infantry ) Parachute Battalion in Normandy , Belgium , and Germany . His troops , amused by the unusual applicability of his family name ( soldiers were usually buried in simple pine wood coffins ) , referred to him as " Wooden Box " . Early life . Born to John Edward Pine - Coffin and Louise Pine - Coffin at Portledge , the Pine - Coffin family estate in Devon , he was educated at Eton and Trinity College , Cambridge . His family had a long tradition of serving in the British armed forces ; his father , a brevet major in the British Army , served with the mounted infantry in the Second Boer War ( gaining the Distinguished Service Order ) and died in 1919 , whilst his uncle , Lieutenant Tristram James Pine - Coffin served in World War I and died in northwestern Russia in 1919 . During World War II , R . G . Pine - Coffin ' s brother , E . C . Pine - Coffin , served in Malaya as a lieutenant - colonel in the British Indian Army and was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore in 1942 . R . G . himself had been commissioned into his local infantry regiment , the Devonshire Regiment , as a second lieutenant in 1928 . He was promoted lieutenant in 1931 and captain in 1938 . He was promoted major ( war substantive ) shortly after the beginning of the Second World War . World War II . North Africa . After the 2nd Parachute Battalion was formed on 30 September 1941 , Pine - Coffin was attached from the Devons to the battalion . He subsequently moved to the 3rd Parachute Battalion in 1942 as second - in - command . He later became its commanding officer after becoming a temporary lieutenant - colonel . After the Allied landings against Axis - occupied northwestern Africa in November , 1942 , the 1st Parachute Brigade was ordered to Algeria and the 3rd Battalion was sent ahead , landing in Algiers via Gibraltar . The battalion ' s first operation came on the morning of 12 November , when it was dropped over a strategically important arfield near Bóne by the US 64th Troop Carrier Group . They had landed just minutes before German paratroopers were able to carry out a similar operation , which was aborted after the presence of British paratroopers was realised . The only German opposition to the 3rd Battalion came from Ju 87 Stuka dive - bombers , which had little impact . The airfield was reinforced later in the day by commandos and Spitfires . Pine - Coffin ' s battalion was withdrawn days later . The 3rd Battalion served in North Africa until the end of the campaign in 1943 , notably at Bou Arada and Tamera . Pine - Coffin ' s actions during the campaign resulted in him being awarded the Military Cross . Pine - Coffin ' s tenure as the 3rd Battalions ' commanding officer ended when he was called back to Britain , at a time when the battalion was preparing to take part in the Allied airborne assault on Sicily . He was appointed commanding officer of the 7th ( Light Infantry ) Parachute Battalion ( formerly 10th Battalion , The Somerset Light Infantry ) , which formed part of the 5th Parachute Brigade , 6th Airborne Division . Normandy . With the 7th Battalion , Pine - Coffin played an important role in the 6th Airborne Division ' s Operation Deadstick airborne assault around the River Orne in the early hours of 6 June 1944 . His battalion was tasked with reinforcing Major John Howard ' s 181 - strong coup de main force , which had seized the Pegasus and Horsa Bridges . The successful defence of these bridges was vital to 6th Airborne Division ' s objective of securing the Allied eastern flank . The bridges were to be held until relieved later on in the day following the Allied amphibious landings . Pine - Coffin dropped with his battalion at 00 : 50 ; they began to arrive at the bridges at about 01 : 40 , taking up positions in Bénouville and Le Port , west of Caen Canal . With 7th Battalion ' s arrival , Pine - Coffin succeeded Major Howard to command of the bridges ' defence . The 5th Parachute Brigade ' s position was precarious ; 7th Battalion had been scattered and could only muster about 40 % of its strength , while the 12th Battalion was in a similar situation at Ranville , east of the Orne . Pine - Coffin ' s battalion came under sustained attack by the 716th Infantry Division and elements of the 21st Panzer Division but they , with difficulty , held their positions . The first relief for the beleaguered troops came at about 13 : 30 , when elements of Lord Lovat ' s 1st Special Service Brigade arrived from Sword Beach and crossed the bridges to reinforce the Ranville positions . The 7th Battalion ' s own relief would not begin until the arrival of the 3rd Infantry Division ' s 2nd Royal Warwickshire Regiment at 21 : 15 . The 7th Battalion was moved to positions east of the Orne when their withdrawal from the bridges was completed . After a German assault by the 346th Infantry Division was driven off on 10 June , Pine - Coffin was ordered to plan for an operation to take the Le Mariquet woods , which the remnants of the German attacking force had retreated into . Just two of the 7th battalion ' s companies were present , but they were , with support from tanks , successful in taking the woods , and captured up to 100 soldiers . The 7th Battalion would continue to be engaged in bloody defensive battles in the area until the Allied breakout and advance to the Seine in August . Despite concerns by Pine - Coffin that his battalion was greatly fatigued , the 7th Battalion maintained its involvement in the intense Allied advance . Finally , in mid - September , the 6th Airborne Division was withdrawn back to Britain to recuperate and reorganise . Pine - Coffin was one of many soldiers awarded medals for their service in Normandy ; he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order ( DSO ) for his command of the Caen Canal bridge ' s defence on 6 June . Belgium and Germany . After Germany launched its Ardennes Offensive in December , the 6th Airborne Division was rushed to Belgium to reinforce the Allied defence . Pine - Coffin ' s battalion and most of the division had only limited involvement ( compared to US forces ) and , after Germany ' s offensive was defeated in January , were withdrawn to the Netherlands and thence to Britain in February 1945 . The 7th Battalion next saw active service in the Allied airborne assault over the Rhine on 24 March 1945 . Pine - Coffin was awarded a Bar to his DSO for the important role he played in the success of the operation , which was the 7th Battalion ' s last parachute jump of the war . His battalion ' s objective was to seize and hold positions near Hamminkeln , to act as a covering force for the rest of 5th Brigade in its advance on the main objectives . The battalion was the last of its brigade to make the drop , doing so whilst subject to fierce German attack from flak and other ground forces . During heavy fighting to take the battalion ' s objectives , Pine - Coffin sustained serious wounds to his face ; he refused to leave for treatment and continued to move around his battalion ' s positions encouraging his men . He was ( according to the citation for the bar to his DSO ) instrumental in rallying his battalion to hold out against German counter - attacks , which played a pivotal role in the successful completion of the Brigade ' s main objectives . The 7th Battalion was subsequently withdrawn to 5th Brigade ' s main positions . The battalion ended its war with the rest of the division at the Baltic port of Wismar , in May 1945 . Later life . In August 1945 he was promoted to substantive major ; he continued to command the 7th Battalion as a temporary lieutenant - colonel , serving in the Far East and Palestine , until he left them in 1947 . He was Mentioned in Despatches for service in Burma in 1946 . He was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant - colonel on 3 July 1948 and took command of the 1st Battalion , The Devonshire Regiment in Malaya . Pine - Coffin commanded the battalion through the early stages of the Malayan Emergency and oversaw its move to Colchester in February 1951 . He received a further Mention in Despatches for his Malayan service . He left the Devons soon after , returning to the Parachute Regiment as its regimental colonel and commander of Depot The Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces , a post he held from 1952 to 1955 . He then became commandant of the Army MT School and garrison commander at Bordon . He retired on 20 December 1958 and was granted the honorary rank of colonel with reserve liability ( which expired in 1963 ) . He died on 28 February 1974 , in the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar , survived by his son Peter . Pine - Coffin ' s World War II diaries were the basis for the 2003 book " The Tale of Two Bridges " , adapted by Barbara Maddox and self - published by his son , Peter Pine - Coffin . Honours and awards . Richard Pine - Coffin ' s ribbons as they would appear today .