HERO OF THE MONTH
Sergeant William Arthur Pickering MM
Bill Pickering spent a quite extraordinary three months behind enemy lines fighting alongside partisans towards the end of the Second World War having been parachuted into northern Italy in February 1945. It was outstanding and sustained bravery that not only saw him decorated with the Military Medal (MM) but that also, indirectly, resulted in him having a near 70-year marriage to an Italian woman.
William Arthur Pickering was born in Oldham, Lancashire, on 21 September 1923 and was educated at Manchester Central High School. His father worked as the manager of a plumbing business and he had one younger sister. At the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939, Pickering was approaching his 16th birthday and was working as a clerk. He gained an appointment to the Royal Engineers’ Cadet Corps in Manchester and subsequently enlisted in the local Defence Corps (also known as the Local Defence Volunteers). By the summer of 1940 he was still underage for military service but, by means of altering his birth certificate, he managed to enlist in the Welch Regiment just two days after his 17th birthday.
Pickering later transferred to the Royal Corps of Signa…
