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Loss of a friend at the Rhine Crossing.

After the attack on London and the south by the 'Doodles'my old work mate Bob Barnes, who was a genuine Cockney was so incensed he promised to go home to London and join the Army his words to me was ''I am going back home to join up and if I can take 3 Jerries before they get me, it will be good odds at 3-1''.
Now this is what Bob did and it was the last time we were together as he was killed on the Rhine crossing in the early months of 1945.I was never able to find out whether his 3-1 odds was accomplished but he certainly in the thick of the stubborn resistance put up by the 'Jerries'knowing their country was facing defeat. As Bob was some 2 years younger than me
he saw very little of life to lose his at so young an age.
The ‘Paras’ and glider crossings was a bitterly fought episode and I was to later learn from his parents, that he was one of the many brave servicemen that did not survive the last few months of the war in the fight to rid the world of Nazi domination.
Like many more he did his share but paid the ultimate price. R.I.P. Bob.
It was after these ‘Doodles’ we had the dreaded V.2. which were a different storey and there seemed to be no answer to this threat as they had a clear run to our country, and we had no chance of destroying them before they hit their target.So here again I felt that Bob and his colleages in carrying out the Rhine crossings played a very important part in the ending of the ‘Doodle’ and ‘V2’programme of total destruction of our country when the Nazis had to withdraw and abandon these launching sites, bringing the end to these weapons of total destruction. ‘’Yes a job well done by the lads of the Allied forces.’’

Just some memories by Freddy Dyke.

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