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Rifleman Lancelot George Rooke
Unit : Defence Platoon, Headquarters 6th Airborne Division
Army No. : 14408255
Awards : Mentioned in Despatches.
"Lance" or "Paddy" Rooke joined the Royal Irish Fusiliers on the 12th October 1942 at the age of 16, lying about his date of birth to enlist. In 1943, he volunteered for the Airborne Forces and was posted to "A" Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles. He was later transferred to 6th Airborne Divisional Headquarters Defence Platoon, with whom he saw service in Normandy (where he spent a lot of his time in and around the quarry that was Divisional Headquarters, next to D.Z. "N", on defence duties), the Ardennes, Rhine Crossing and the advance across Germany.
Lance landed on L.Z. "P" on the 24th March 1945, and moved to Kopenhof Farm as part of the plan to defend the area which was intended to serve as Divisional Headquarters. During the day they were attacked by a force of German infantry and Lieutenant-Colonel G. H. D. Ford (attached to Divisional Headquarters from the South Lancashire Regiment) led a counter-attack against them and was killed in the process. Lance remembered very clearly, over 65 years later, how it felt having to bury their dead near Kopenhof Farm later in the day.
Later on the advance across Germany, Lance was acting as escort to Major-General Bols in a jeep when he saw a German soldier run off into a wood. He jumped off the jeep and gave chase, finally catching up with him as he ran across a clearing towards a large group of other German troops. Lance dropped down behind the base of a tree and opened fire. Armed with a .303 Lee Enfield rifle, he fired at them as fast as he could, all their return fire going well wide of his position. All this time the rest of his platoon were moving up and caused the Germans to withdraw. Afterwards his section commander, Corporal Joe Buchanan, told him he was a "silly bugger" and could get himself killed doing that sort of thing. However, he also told him that they had counted 5 dead and 3 wounded amongst the enemy force. Rooke was recommended for the Military Medal for his initiative, but as the action was not witnessed by an officer it was reduced to a Mention in Despatches, which was listed in the London Gazette Supplement, 4th April 1945.
Rooke had completed a parachute course in November 1944, and later transferred to the Parachute Regiment for a year, before rejoining the Divisional Headquarters Defence Platoon for his final service in Palestine, where he was demobbed in May 1947. Most of the time that he was in the Defence Platoon he acted as part of the close protection section to the Divisional Commander. Lance said how the Defence Platoon was more like a mini-Company for the Normandy and Rhine Crossing operations with a strength of approximately 60 men. For the impending operations in the Far East it was increased to a full Company size and this is what they took to Palestine.
Lance served in Palestine for a year, still as a member of the Defence Platoon and was given an outstanding Testimonial by his officer; "Pte Rooke is one of the finest soldiers I have ever met. Give him a job, its done! Absolutely trustworthy and a most exceptional worker. He is obedient and very loyal to his superiors. He landed in Normandy & over the Rhine, where he was Mentioned In Despatches - were I a potential employer Rooke would be one of the first men I should employ. Haifa, Palestine. 1.5.47."
In early 2006 Lance and his good friend Tony Huntbach, with their wives, participated in a tour that went from the D-Day beaches to Berlin. Along the route they paid their respects at all of the sites where they had lost so many of their friends. In March 2010 they both attended a tour that took in the sites of Operation Varsity and visited the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at the Reichswald where so many of their comrades from the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles and other comrades from the 6th Airborne Division lie at rest.
Thanks to Bob Hilton for this account.
Offsite links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1WVaDB6Xko&t=419s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5ADeHwGlQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neO1Gkw8aLM&t=1s