More wartime casualties from our area

TWENTY-YEAR-OLD Lieutenant David Neale Stride and 22-year-old Trooper Jack Crompton of Melling, were ambushed by the Germans at Zuid Willemsvaart in the neighbourhood of Keldonk.

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Lieutenant Stride was on the east flank of the attack with 4 Platoon on that bright sunny day. He was intent on destroying the hostile enemy in his area, which was located at a half-destroyed bridge over the canal at Zuid-Willemsvaart.

They took up a defensive position because the enemy had already built a strong position on the other side of the canal to the north.

The following morning Saturday, September 23, Stride and Crompton left their vehicle and strolled down to the edge of the canal.

They saw some American troops from the 101st Airborne Division on the other side of the canal.

These troops were waving at them in desperation, but before Stride and Crompton could realise the urgency of the situation and react, they received the answer to this dilemma in the form of machine gun bursts from some nearby houses. They were both immediately hit and went down. Hank Verbraker, a local Dutchman, was in the area and witnessed the entire action.

Stride and Crompton were picked up from where they had fallen by an armoured vehicle and were taken to the house of Jan Stoop in Mariahaut.