Editing Richard Todd (section)

== Military service ==
[[File:RichardTodd1944.jpeg|thumb|left|Lieutenants Tony Bowler (left) and Richard Todd of the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion in Wales prior to D-Day, 1944.]]

Todd enlisted soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, entering the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]] in late 1939. On 29 January 1941, he was one of 26 cadets injured when 'D' Block of New College was hit by a German bomb in an attack by the [[Luftwaffe]]. In his memoirs, he describes seeing the bomb pass through the ceiling in front of him before he was blown out of the building by its blast, landing on a grass bank and suffering lacerations; five cadets were killed in the incident. Todd passed out (completed the course) in the spring of 1941.<ref name="Officers of the British Army">{{cite web|url=https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_T01.html#Todd_RAP|title=British Army officer histories|publisher=Unit Histories|access-date=2022-07-30}}</ref> On the day he received his commission, he tried to join several friends at the [[Café de Paris (London)|Café de Paris]] in London, but could not get a table booked for the evening. That evening, the venue was destroyed in an air raid and 15 newly commissioned subalterns were killed.

[[File:Pegasus Bridge, June 1944 B5288.jpg|thumb|right|175px|[[Pegasus Bridge]], where Lieutenant Todd landed on D-Day, 6 June 1944.]]

He was commissioned into the 2nd/4th Battalion of the [[King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry]] (KOYLI). Following arctic warfare training in [[Iceland in World War II|Iceland]] he returned to the UK as a [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] (having been promoted to that rank on 1 October 1942).<ref name="Officers of the British Army" /> For a short while he was posted, at his request, as liaison officer to the [[42nd Armoured Division (United Kingdom)|42nd Armoured Division]] then applied to join the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] to have a better chance at seeing action. He was accepted and after training was posted to the [[7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion]], which formed part of the [[5th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom)|5th Parachute Brigade]] of the [[6th Airborne Division (United Kingdom)|6th Airborne Division]], commanded by Major General [[Richard Gale (British Army officer)|Richard Gale]]. On 6 June 1944, he participated in [[Operation Tonga]] during the [[Normandy landings|D-Day landings]].<ref name="d-day">{{cite book|last=Ambrose|first=Stephen E.|title=Pegasus Bridge|url=https://archive.org/details/pegasusbridgejun00ambr|url-access=registration|year=1985 |orig-year=2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|location=London|isbn=978-0-7434-5068-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/pegasusbridgejun00ambr/page/105 105]}}</ref> He was among the first British soldiers to land in [[Normandy]] and the first Irishman.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Richardson|first=Neil|title=Extract: The story of an Irishman in WW II: Richard Todd – actor and soldier|url=https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/extract-the-story-of-an-irishman-in-ww-ii-richard-todd-actor-and-soldier-668312-Nov2012/|access-date=2021-05-12|website=TheJournal.ie|date=11 November 2012 |language=en}}</ref> His battalion parachuted after glider-borne forces had landed to capture the [[Pegasus Bridge]] near [[Caen]].<ref name="d-day"/> During the operation he met Major [[John Howard (British Army officer)|John Howard]] on the bridge and was involved in helping to repulse counter-attacks by the German forces in the area. Five days after D-Day, while still in the bridge defence area, he was promoted to captain.<ref>Holland, James, Normandy '44, {{ISBN|9780552176118}}</ref><ref name="Officers of the British Army" /> Todd later played Howard in the 1962 film ''[[The Longest Day (film)|The Longest Day]]'', recreating these events.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/extract-the-story-of-an-irishman-in-ww-ii-richard-todd-actor-and-soldier-668312-Nov2012/ |title=Extract: The story of an Irishman in WW II: Richard Todd – actor and soldier |publisher=The Journal |date=11 November 2012 |access-date=7 August 2019}}</ref>

After three months fighting in Normandy, the 6th Airborne Division returned to the UK to reconstitute and went back to the continent three months later as emergency reinforcements to halt the [[Battle of the Bulge]] the German offensive in the Ardennes. Short of transport as they advanced into Germany, Todd, as the motor transport officer, was responsible for gathering a rag-tag selection of commandeered vehicles to ferry troops forward. After VE day, the division returned to the UK for a few weeks, then was sent on counter-insurgency operations in [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]]. During this posting he was seriously injured when his [[Willys MB|Jeep]] overturned, breaking both shoulders and receiving a concussion. He returned to the UK to be demobilised in 1946.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Caught in the act: The Story of my Life |last=Todd, Richard |date=1986 |publisher=Hutchinson |isbn=0-09-163800-3 |oclc=982188986}}</ref>