South Yorkshire Times, October 14th 1944
Missing After Arnhem
Mexborough Corporal
“It was only by his example of fearlessness that spirits could be kept up. Some of his men have returned and I have heard nothing but the highest praise of him.” These were the words written in a letter from his Commanding Officer, Major A. Bruce Blake, to Mr. and Mrs. W. Scales of 25, Arnold Crescent, which preceded official notification that their son Cpl. George Henry Scales (26) has been reported missing after completing one of the hardest tasks at the Arnhem bridgehead.
The letter also stated “Corporal Scales’s task at Arnhem was one of the most difficult. He had a section of men under him who, like himself, had to sit down under German shelling night and day for a week, without a chance to hit back at them or to do anything about it. Under these circumstances all you could do was to walk round encouraging them. He was particularly successful in scrounging food for his men, although it was very difficult to lay hands on.”
The letter says that Cpl. Scales was last seen on the morning of September 26h, on the north bank of the Rhine. He was then safe, but it was felt that the river, which was 120 yards at that point, was too wide for him to swim. He was one of those who had to be left behind.
Cpl. Scales joined the Army in July 1939 and was one of the men who escaped when Norway was evacuated. He spent two years in Iceland and then returned to England for special training. He fought through the Tunisian and Sicilian campaigns.