Rearguard at dunkirk + Liberation of Cean

[Shane]

I liken this search in terms of chances to that of winning the lottery but stranger things have happened and I am a hopeless optimist........

I am looking for anybody that may remember a certain Walter Asbury, who unfortunately passed away a few years back.

His experiences or any information would mean a great deal to his son now my step father who wishes to try and understand a little more about him.

Walter spoke very little of the war but for a few accounts relayed in vague details. Not much is known of Walter other than he fought rear guard at Dunkirk and later returned to be involved with the liberation of cean. The problem is that what military records we do know of affectively lose him just prior to Normandy. we know he was shifted around a number of different regiments and later i hope to at least be able to post the one he started off in.

One interesting account was that of a colleague constantly harassed by his Co, without going into too much detail Walter had stepped in and prevented said young man from being shot. He talked about an American regiment who were effectively sitting tight when his group literally came from the rear and pushed forward leaving the Americans behind and proceeding to take the objective.

He mentioned other small things like the mortar runs they did lining up mortars on the road a differing distances then running to them to fire them off in quick succession because the Germans had become proficient in hitting the smoke, how true this is i don't know but perhaps somebody has heard similar accounts or may understand from personal experiences over there that this was true?

All of this is very vague but Walter only began to speak of it during the early onset of Alzheimer's which eventually took him three years ago.

Its a long shot but even some advice on where to look would be of use.

Some additional info i now have is that walter served in the fifth battalian royal regiment of northumberland fusiliers and was present after returning from dunkirk through 44-45 with them through arnham.

Thanks
Shane