Private Bertram H Roe MM

Pte Bertram Henry Roe was a member of the Non-Combatant Corps, who served with The Royal Army Medical Corps during World War II. He volunteered for airborne forces in 1943.

Pte Roe qualified as a military parachutist, as a member of the newly formed 225 Parachute Field Ambulance RAMC, on course 75 which ran at RAF Ringway from 26 July to 6 August 1943. The course instructors’ notes record ‘Fine spirit – should make a good section leader’.

Attached to 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion, he jumped into Normandy on 6 June 1944. On 10 July Pte Roe showed total disregard for his own safety by shielding a wounded soldier on a stretcher. As the stretcher lay on a road he covered it with his own body as shells dropped within feet of him. Pte Roe was awarded a Military Medal.

'Bert' died on 3 April 2012 aged 98.