The Sutlers Supreme

A Parcel from Netheravon

A small NAAFI footnote to the Gauli Glacier rescue (1946)

Caption: “NAAFI to the Rescue” — a small notice in NAAFI News recording that the NAAFI store at RAF Netheravon was instructed (via the Air Ministry) to assemble emergency parcels, later flown out and dropped by parachute to survivors of the Gauli Glacier crash (1946).

In November 1946, a United States Army Air Forces C-53 Skytrooper made a forced landing on the Gauli Glacier high in the Swiss Alps. The dramatic rescue that followed captured international attention and has since been remembered as one of the earliest large-scale aerial alpine rescue operations. Newspapers across Europe and North America reported the search, the discovery of the aircraft, and the eventual evacuation of the survivors, all of whom were brought safely home.

As is often the case with widely reported events, contemporary accounts differ in their details. Various reports attributed the sighting of the aircraft and aspects of the rescue to different air forces, and a number of proposals and ideas were discussed at the time, not all of which were carried out. Yet the essential facts remain clear: the aircraft came down on a glacier, the passengers survived the crash, and an international effort helped sustain them until rescue could be completed.

Tucked away in a later issue of NAAFI News is a small and easily overlooked reference that adds an unexpected dimension to the story. According to this notice, the NAAFI store and shop at RAF Netheravon received instructions, through the Air Ministry, to assemble parcels of foodstuffs and matches. These supplies were then flown out by Lancaster aircraft and dropped by parachute to the stranded passengers.

The report is brief, and it does not attempt to describe the wider rescue in detail. Nevertheless, it offers a revealing glimpse into the way NAAFI’s organisation and supply networks could be used in unforeseen circumstances. NAAFI is most often associated with institutes, clubs, and canteens serving servicemen and women in barracks, camps, and garrisons. Yet this small episode reminds us that its role could extend much further, providing practical assistance wherever British forces were operating or able to help.

It is also a reminder of the many quiet contributions that rarely found their way into headlines. Rescue stories naturally celebrate the pilots, crews, and medical teams whose work was dramatic and visible. Less often mentioned are the people who prepared the parcels, packed the tins, and organised the stores that made such operations possible. Their work was no less necessary, even if it passed largely unnoticed at the time.

The Gauli Glacier rescue remains a remarkable story of survival and cooperation in difficult conditions. Among the many elements that made it possible was this small, practical effort carried out hundreds of miles away in Wiltshire. One likes to think that, alongside the essential food and equipment, there may even have been tea among the supplies — something that generations of servicemen would have agreed was almost as important as anything else when facing cold and uncertainty.

Sometimes history is found not only in the great events themselves, but in the small footnotes that reveal how many different hands helped to bring a good ending about.

Source

Source: “Naafi to the Rescue,” NAAFI News, Christmas issue, 1947. From the author’s private collection.

Editorial note: Contemporary reports of the Gauli Glacier rescue vary in detail, and information on the small part played by NAAFI appears to be scarce. If any readers have further information, documents, or family recollections relating to NAAFI’s involvement in supplying the survivors, I would be very pleased to hear from you.