"ON ACTIVE SERVICE" New Testament: 1940, 244 Coy RE

I managed to convert the image.

 

My father was in the 4th Battalion, KOSB, he was a sergeant sniper with responsibility for eight snipers. He told me of two occasions where he had some connection with Royal Engineers.

The first story he told was during the Battle of the Scheldte. About to start his advance along a canal bank to Middleburg, he saw a Royal Engineer sergeant about to lift a mine, this was near Flushing. He stopped to speak to him as he recognised him from a course they had both attended. They said goodbye and my father and his snipers headed off towards Middleburg. They had gone about thirty yards when there was an explosion, he looked round and saw it was the mine being lifted that had gone off, he ran back but the Royal Engineer sergeant was dead. I have tried to find out his name but have been unsuccessful. Further on, my father shot a German machine gunner on the other side of the canal, he would have been hidden from view from the other KOSB troops advancing on the other side. The canal bank they were advancing down was very narrow due to flooding, there was no cover. There was a railway track on the other bank.

The other occasion was earlier and more of a connection. It was during the Battle of the Bulge, when he was sent back from the front to recover from pneumonia, the weather was terrible. His eight snipers were co-opted to help carry mines to the front line along with thirty-nine Royal Engineers. It was at night and the Germans heard them and sent in mortar bombs. One bomb exploded near the leader of the column, this caused the mines he was carrying to explode and set off a chain reaction all the way down the column. Thirty-nine Royal Engineers and the eight snipers were killed. The mines had been armed before being taken to the front.

How can I find the name of the Royal Engineer sergeant who was killed near Flushing?

Ian.

 

I have an apology to make, I was already a member of this forum under the name IanS and had already raised this subject.

My profound apologies, I have to put it down to age. Can I delete the duplications?

Ian