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Bob Roberts Legion d'Honneur

Discussion in 'WWII Obituaries' started by GRW, Oct 9, 2020.

  1. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    "Corporal Eldon Bob Roberts was only 5ft 3in, but he stood tall in his army boots and was the second man to set foot on Juno Beach on that fateful June D-Day in 1944. A sniper’s bullet missed its mark by millimetres, whistling past his head.
    With another soldier, Roberts took out a German machine gun post located on a cliff side. It was focused on the advancing Allied Infantry but was silenced by Roberts using firearms and a flamethrower.
    Bob Roberts was born in St John, New Brunswick, Canada and enlisted with his younger brother, Ernie Roberts in 1942 in the North Shore Regiment of the Canadian Army. Soon after, they were sent to Britain for training and were deployed as part of the D-Day Allied Invasion of Normandy, France. Sadly, Ernie didn’t make it home after the D-Day landings as he was killed just 24 hours after relieving his brother at post.
    Later in the campaign, having advanced with his regiment along the coast to Calais and destroyed a gun battery, Corporal Roberts was involved in one of WWII’s more bizarre encounters. On September 26th the troop he led captured a gun crew. Roberts, known for his short stature was then confronted by the tallest German soldier on record, Private Jakob Nacken.
    Bob Roberts returned to Bournemouth, Dorset in the South of England after the war for a quiet life. He married his ‘English Rose’ Vera, and together they had four children, ten grandchildren and nineteen great-grandchildren. So, perhaps, not such a quiet life after all?"
    www.warhistoryonline.com/news/bob-roberts.html
     

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