GEORGE Eccles wasn’t the only Oxfordshire man to appear in the film Red Beret – former soldier Cyril Smart was a member of the cast too.

He and fellow British servicemen were recruited as extras while doing their National Service. Their role was as German soldiers!

As we recalled (Memory Lane, September 10), Warrant Officer Eccles, a parachute training instructor at RAF Abingdon, acted as Alan Ladd’s double during the more hazardous scenes.

Now Mr Smart has described his part in the film, which told the story of an American who enlisted in the British Parachute Regiment in 1940, claiming to be a Canadian.

He writes: “We were doing National Service in 1950-2 at Tonfanu Camp, near Towyn, North Wales, when we were told extras were needed for a film being made farther up the coast.

“About 50 of us were told: ‘You horrible lot, you are going to be film stars.’ “We spent about two weeks travelling back and forth by Army lorry. Our Army pay went up slightly.

“The surprise was that we all played the parts of German soldiers, with uniforms down to the last detail and rifles.

“The beach where filming took place had lots of bombs which they set off, so we had to charge across in marked-out areas – sometimes the bombs went off a bit close.

“All the scenes we took part in were filmed in daylight, but the production team turned them into night-time action.

“Alan Ladd in those days was a big star and some days, we had our lunch outside his trailer. If he had a scene in the water, as soon as it was over, they got him out and dried him as quickly as possible.

“Most days, his wife, Sue-Carol Ladd, watched the action – she was a lovely lady.”

Mr Smart, of Lords Piece Road, Chipping Norton, has Alan Ladd’s autograph on his Army paybook, along with those of his wife and fellow actors, Leo Genn, Donald Houston and Patric Doonan.

He writes: “Your article brought back lots of memories for me and two of my mates.

“We had a memorable fortnight. Being able to sit in a circle talking with film stars was just great.

“Alan Ladd may not have been very tall, but in the film world, he was a giant.”